


Anonymity

by Slupfee



Category: Splatoon
Genre: F/M, Female Agent 4, Gen, Male Agent 3
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-03
Updated: 2019-09-03
Packaged: 2019-10-03 11:12:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 35,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17282957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slupfee/pseuds/Slupfee
Summary: Agent 3 didn't really like the spotlight too much, He liked to have his privacy intact, but with an picture accidentally shared by Callie goes on her blog. He can kiss his anonymity goodbye. [Working Title]





	1. Chapter 1

I do not own Splatoon or it's sequel Splatoon 2.

Chapter 1

It was a normal day inside Cuttlefish's Cabin under inkopolis where Callie and Marie and Agent 3 was hanging out. It was one of the rare days where Callie and Marie had a clear schedule with them being the ever popular Squid Sisters.

Marie was sitting on a chair while checking something out on her squidphone and while Callie was eyeing a certain clothing that Agent 3 was wearing.

"So what's with the cape Agent 3?" Callie asked while she was holding a stifle as she was eyeing the black cloth that was being worn by Agent 3.

"Oh this? Sheldon asked me to test a new prototype he made!" beamed Agent 3. "It allows me to remove my limiter on my specials for a short amount of time!"

Agent 3 proceeded to fiddle with his cape to make it look like it was being carried by the wind, as this was going on Callie couldn't resist anymore and started laughing while holding her stomach and looking as if she was going to fall over.

"It's not something to laugh about!" exclaimed Agent 3 and proceeded to cover himself up with his cape and crouched resembling a turtle hiding inside his shell. "It's cool" he mumbled.

Callie's response was just to laugh harder and is now currently laughing while lying down on the floor of Cuttlefish's Cabin. It took a couple of moments for her to recompose herself and chuckled.

"I'm sorry Agent 3, I haven't had a good laugh like that in ages." Callie said while wiping a tear that came out of her eye while she was laughing.

Agent 3 then stood up leaving his previous turtle hiding in a shell pose "But it's cool!" Agent 3 all but yelled and then looked towards Marie who was still looking through her squidphone and appealed to her.

"Don't you think so Marie?"

Marie then looked up from her phone and gave Agent 3 a once-over, And with a sarcastic smile gave him her answer.

"Yeah, cool as in you look like an edgy kid on splatoween, if that's what you were going for." she chuckled.

"Not you too!" groaned Agent 3 as he gave Marie a look of betrayal, Callie giggled and then walked towards Agent 3 and gave him a pat on the back.

"There, there Agent 3 we're just messing with you!" Callie said. "You look really mysterious with that cape on! you'll probably give a couple of octarians nightmares."

"She's right you know? don't worry Agent 3 the cape suits you." Marie said reassuringly.

"Thanks, but please take it down a notch on the teasing will you guys?" said Agent 3 as he gave a huff while he went and sat on the couch who was followed by the sisters as they sat on each side of him.

A moment of silence came over the three agents. "It's been awhile since we all had some time for all of us to hang out like this." Callie said as she gave him a nudge with her shoulder.

"That's right, It's a shame we couldn't hang out in some public place like a shop since Callie and I will get recognized in a heartbeat." Marie added as she too was getting comfortable on the left side of Agent 3.

"Well, since we're all here why don't we take a picture of us all together?" Callie chimed as she pulled out her squidphone and put her arms around Agent 3's right arm and took a quick selfie.

"Wait wha-"  
"Wait Call-"

Both Agent 3 and Marie tried to say but was cut off by a bright flash.

"Callie! You better had not share that picture, all of us will have a hard time explaining that to the public!" Marie exclaimed.

"It'll be fiiine! You worry too much Marie, even I wont be that dumb to post a selfie of us on social media with agent 3, this picture will just be for us!"

"It better be or else it'll cause a lot of problems for all of us!"

As the two continued to bicker about the consequences of the picture, Agent 3 felt his squidphone vibrate and when he opened it he paled and went wide-eyed.

"Uhh girls." Agent 3 said catching the attention of the cousins, and proceeded to show them what he saw on his phone.

It was a picture of them sitting on the couch with Callie having a big smile on her face with Marie and Agent 3 having a shocked look with both girl's arms having their arms locked on both of Agent 3's arms.

To them it was just a picture of three friends enjoying their time together, To other inklings on social media however.

Callie had paled and looked at her phone and saw that she had accidentally had set her auto post on. "Oh carp." she then looked at Marie who had this dark look while looking at Agent 3's phone and then looked at Callie.

"Callie, what were you thinking!" Marie fumed as she took hold of her cousin's shoulders and shook her, she knew someone who sometimes takes videos on her phone upside down will make this mistake.

While Marie was shaking the ink out of Callie, Agent 3 just sat there looking at his phone with a blank look on his face and only one thought.

"This is bad."


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey isn't that the squid that was with Callie and Marie?"

"You're right, Quick take a picture!"

Agent 3 sighed. It had only been three days since that picture was accidentally put into Callie's blog, and so far his life has been more hectic in the last 24 hours than it had been in his whole life. Sure, he had been battling the octarian menace, but he didn't get swarmed by a bunch of inklings for it, he liked his peace and quiet time thank you very much.

"You would think this would have blown over by now." murmured Agent 3. "I should've worn a disguise before going out."

He's been hassled by some of the fans of the Squid Sisters when he was visiting Sheldon in inkopolis square, He can't even go home to his own apartment since some independent news outlets had tracked down the apartment complex he was renting in and has been waiting for him to return to interview him. He was thankful that Cap'n Cuttlefish was nice enough to let him stay in the spare room in his cabin.

Callie and Marie had been called by their manager about some idol stuff and since he's got nothing to do at the moment, He used this free time to take a seat at a table near the galleria in inkopolis square with a drink resting on the table when suddenly his squidphone vibrated.

Must be another stupid notification from some fan of Callie or Marie, Agent 3 thought, but it was actually a new message from the chatroom that agent 1 and 2 made for the New Squidbeak Splatoon for everyone to get a way to contact the other agents.

The message came from no other than the agent that Marie had recruited. The last he knew of Agent 4 was that the agent was visiting someone from across town and wont be available for a few days.

AGENT 4: AGENT 3!

Upon seeing the message his fellow agent had sent him he had raised a single brow in surprise, he had no idea what Agent 4 would want from him, today at least. He wasted no time in writing a reply just in case it was something important.

AGENT 3: What's up?

He figured it would take a while before Agent 4 would message back so as soon as he sent that message he had put down his squidphone so that he could continue enjoying his drink, but before he could even let it rest on the table he felt it vibrate again. That was fast, thought Agent 3.

AGENT 4: WHERE ARE YOU RIGHT NOW?

AGENT 3: I'm sitting at a table near the Galleria in inkopolis square. Did the Cap'n need us for something? if he does i'll be at his shack in a flash.

This might be an emergency, there are no other possible reason why Agent 4 would want to know where he was so urgently judging from the all capital messages agent 4's been sending him.

AGENT 4: NO, JUST STAY THERE, I'M ON MY WAY.

Agent 3's eyebrows rose. What does Agent 4 mean by that?, he thought.

AGENT 3: Uh, Okay?

After he sent that last message he had put down his squidphone on the table and picked up his drink, still confused on why Agent 4 had wanted him to stay put but decided to just shrug it off and continued to relax and enjoy his drink for now and wait for his fellow agent to arrive.

It's been 25 minutes since Agent 4's last message and so far no sign of his fellow agent and he's been getting antsy just waiting here, Agent 4 didn't give any extra details on why he had to stay here or why Agent 4 was coming to meet with him, for all he know Agent 4 could actually be in deep trouble. The very thought of it made him worry.

Agent 3 decided he would try to contact Agent 4 so he pulled up his squidphone and was going to go and type a message to Agent 4 but was interrupted by a sudden hug from behind him.

"What the?!" Agent 3 exclaimed.

"Wassup Three!" a voice chirped.

It was then that Agent 3 recognized who this was immediately, he turned his head to the side to get a good look behind him and saw Agent 4 greeting him with a surprise hug from behind. Agent 3 got acquainted with Agent 4 after Marie introduced Agent 4 to him and Cap'n Cuttlefish when they got back from the deepsea metro. She was a bit shorter than Agent 3 but that didn't stop her for being a very excitable and very approachable squid. They went from being barely acquainted to being great friends instantly.

"Hey Four Uh, mind telling me what the hug is for?" Asked Agent 3.

"No reason, hehe." Agent 4 answered as she giggled.

"Well, take a seat before you cause more misunderstandings, Everyone knows I need more of those."

Agent 4 then proceeded to take a seat on the free chair on Agent 3's left, it was then that Agent 3 got a good look at her. She was wearing the full hero hand me downs from Marie and her hair was styled as what was commonly known as the 'Haircut'.

"So you didn't really explain why you needed me to stay here, from the looks of your messages it seemed like it was something important." Agent 3 said getting straight to the point.

"Well..." Agent 4 suddenly had this hesitant look on her face and reached into her hoodie pocket to get her squidphone out and after a bit of tapping she showed an all too familiar image that's been circling around inkling social media.

"Y-You're not dating either Callie or Marie... Are you?" Agent 4 asked in a voice so low that Agent 3 almost didn't hear it.

"What?!" Agent 3 exclaimed, "Of course not, how'd you get to that conclusion Four?"

"W-Well a lot of rumors have been going around o-online so I figured that..." Agent 4's voice trailed off when getting to the end of the sentence.

Agent 3 sighed in frustration, "Four you need to stop believing what people say on the internet." advised Agent 3.

"I know that!" huffed Agent 4, and Agent 3 didn't notice but a hint of a smile appeared on her face right after.

"Last time we met you said you were going to be unavailable for the week since you had to visit your friend of something across town. Is you asking that question really that important that you couldn't have just called me through the phone?" Asked Agent 3.

Agent 4 had a bead of sweat rolling through her head when Agent 3 asked her that, she was unsure of how to answer that question.

"W-well... I-I..."

Agent 4 stammered as she tried to think of a perfect excuse to say, In a few seconds though she recomposed herself obviously had thought of an excuse that she can tell Agent 3.

"I-I finished my visit early since they only needed help in moving some stuff around y'know? Hehe." Agent 4 replied with a nervous laugh at the end, she hoped Agent 3 would accept her excuse for now since she did message him all of a sudden.

Agent 3 hummed and after a few moments shrugged and accepted it.

"So anyway since we're here and all let's go find something to do!" chirped Agent 4, "We could even do some turf wars!"

Agent 3 thought about it, It can help him relieve some stress from all the stares he got from other inklings around him.

"Well..." Agent 3 trailed off still unsure.

"Come on, It'll be fun!" urged Agent 4.

"Alright fine." Agent 3 gave in, "We should invite Agent 8 though, It'll be a great experience for her." said Agent 3 as he reached for his phone but was stopped by Agent 4.

"Don't worry about it! she's probably busy at Pearl and Marina's place, Something about them teaching him some basic things first before letting him out on his own." informed Agent 4.

 _Huh, I guess she is new to inkopolis so it would be logical that he needs to learn what the do's and the don'ts around here_ , thought Agent 3, then a smile formed on his face.

"Let's not waste time then, It'll be great to leave all these stares behind." beamed Agent 3, this'll take his mind off of the problems he has, and Callie and Marie already told him they'd try to find a way to fix this so he won't be bothered by anyone else.

"Great!" chirped Agent 4 as she took hold of his hand and proceeded lead him to the battle lobby all the while having a smile on her face.

"H-hey! don't pull!" Agent 3 exclaimed, slightly surprised but not really unexpected Agent 4 has always been the lively one.

What could possibly go wrong?, thought agent 3 as he went and picked up his pace as to not get dragged by Agent 4.

He doesn't know how much wrong this would give him later on.

The scene changed to focus on two cousins trying to fix this whole fiasco inside their apartment.

"Yes, I understand goodbye." said Marie as she tossed her phone into the couch in frustration where her cousin was sitting.

"What did they want?" asked Callie, still feeling pretty guilty since she was the one who started this problem in the first place.

"They want to invite him to an interview." answered Marie as she sat down on the couch and leaned down on it, not that it eased her frustrations. Not one bit.

"But isn't that just going to get him more noticed?" Callie said in exasperation, "The picture was bad enough that he was already getting recognized by some inklings, but getting him on TV?"

"I know Cal." groaned Marie, "But we don't have a choice that picture you posted has started many rumors about us two and Agent 3."

.

.

"I'm sorry.." apologized Callie as she looked down into the ground.

Marie sighed, "What's done is done, for now let's just inform Agent 3 of this."

Maybe their manager has some kind of plan and it involves Agent 3 being invited to an interview, But the reason why it needed to be an interview which was going to be shown on live TV is still a mystery to her, she just hoped it at least eases some of the rumors about them being in a polygamous relationship with three.

Marie sighed in frustration and leaned her head back into the couch.

"This is going to be a long week".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1/2/2019
> 
> Authors Note:
> 
> Hey guys. Another update here for you, I decided to make this not a two shot. I estimate about 10 chapters or less before completion, It kind of depends.
> 
> It's currently 2:44 AM here so there might be some grammatical errors and such here and there.
> 
> As always, review the story and tell me what I need to work on and what you liked and didn't like so on and so forth.
> 
> Happy New Years also to everyone! peace.


	3. Chapter 3

"That was super fun!" giggled Agent 4 as she happily walked with a skip in her step, she then stopped turned to look at Agent 3, "We should hang out more often Agent 3, we were unstoppable in that turf war!" Agent 4 excitedly said.

"Indeed, You certainly had your way with those dualies." Agent 3 said as he chuckled, It was amusing to see Agent 4 being all happy and excited, hanging out with Agent 4 was just what he needed to unwind and take his mind off things even if it's just for today.

It was now noon judging from the position of the sun and he was getting a bit peckish, "Hey Four do you want to go eat somewhere?" asked Agent 3, "I got a bit hungry after those intense matches."

"Yes!" Agent 4 said eagerly as she got a little too close to Agent 3.

Agent 3 was caught off guard, he didn't really expect the eagerness in Agent 4's voice or why her face was really close to his that he could literally feel her breath, she must've been really hungry.

Agent 4 must've noticed this and quickly added as she looked to the side sheepishly, "I mean um, Sure, Let's go to Crusty Sean's food truck and find a place to sit." she then resumed walking after she said that.

Agent 3 just shrugged and followed suit.

It did not take long for us to reach Crusty Sean's food truck, Inkopolis Square is really small to be honest, Agent 3 ordered a crusty seanwich while Agent 4 had ordered a Double-fried super shwaffle, which left Agent 3 staring with wide eyes in surprise.

Agent 4 caught him staring at the food with wide eyes, and started to blush, "I'm sorry, this must be w-weird for you huh?" stuttered Agent 4 as she looked at Agent 3.

"Not, Not at all!" Agent 3 stammered, "I think it's pretty cute of you to order something like this!" added Agent 3 as he chuckled.

Agent 4 blushed as red as a tomato as soon as she heard those words, she had her hands on her cheeks to try to hide it, It did not work at all.

"C-cute?!" she stuttered.

"Yeah." Agent 3 said as he nodded.

"I-I'm glad."

They went and found an open table where they can sit and eat, thankfully there were many around the food truck, they then enjoyed their respective meals together, with Agent 4 having a big smile on her face as she was eating, happy of what Agent 3 said to her and partly because of the food.

They chatted while they were eating for a couple of minutes until they were interrupted by Agent 3's phone ringing, Agent 3 sent a look of apology to Agent 4 as he pulled out his phone to take a look at who was calling, and to his surprise it was Marie.

"Who is it?" asked Agent 4 curious on who was calling Agent 3, definitely not because she was annoyed that they were interrupted during their time together. Not one bit.

"It's Mar- Uhm, It's Agent 2." Answered Agent 3

He was being careful of eavesdroppers, with the picture going all around the internet right now he wouldn't be surprised if there were a couple of eavesdroppers near them. He had a couple of incidents while at the battle lobby with people bunching up around him to try and ask him a question or two, thankfully the security there handled them, but they weren't inside the battle lobby right now, so he had to be careful.

"What does she want from you?"

"Well, I'm about to find out." said Agent 3 to Agent 4 as he accepted the call and spoke into it, "Three here."

"About time you picked up, I tried to get a hold of you hours ago!" exclaimed Marie over the phone.

"Sorry about that." he apologized. "I was with Four doing some turf wars, I had to leave my phone on silent." said Agent 3.

Marie suddenly went quiet.

"Uh Two? You there?"

"You... you were with Agent 4?"

"Uh yes."

"Is she with you right now?"

Agent 3 peeked at Agent 4, She currently had this satisfied look on her face while eating her food, and maybe it was his imagination but he swears he could see some sparkles showing around her.

"Yes, but I don't get wh-" Agent 3 tried to say but was cut off by Marie.

"Just answer the question." Marie said in a somewhat intimidating voice, Agent 3 could literally imagine her facial expression as she said that.

Yikes, thought Agent 3, he did not know why Marie was acting like this.

"Yes, I'm eating out with her right now."

Marie hummed in contemplation.

"Come to my apartment later on, We'll explain things to you later there."

"Wait why?"

Agent 3 did not receive an answer as the call was ended by Marie, leaving him confused, Marie never acted like this before so this was really weird for him.

"So, what did she need?" asked Agent 4 while having a spoonful of the schwaffle in her mouth.

"She wanted me to come to her apartment later, didn't even explain why." answered Agent 3.

"Her apartment?" Agent 4 suddenly had this serious look on her face. "Why her apartment? why not on Captain's Cabin?"

"Good question, but unfortunately a question I don't have an answer for." Agent 3 righted himself on his seat. "I'll handle that later, for now let's just enjoy ourselves." said Agent 3 while he grabbed his seanwich and took a bite out of it.

"If you're sure.." Agent 4 said, still looking at him with a serious look but relaxed after a moment and started to stare at Agent 3 while he was eating his food, she suddenly had an idea and took out her phone and sneakily took a picture of him while he was taking a bite out of his seanwich, unfortunately for her she forgot that the flash was on.

Oh crud, thought Agent 4 as she quickly looked towards Agent 3 and found him looking at her with an embarrassed look.

Agent 3 tried to snatch away her phone but she expected this and she quickly blocked his hand.

"H-hey! Delete that Four!" stuttered Agent 3 as he tried reaching for her phone.

"No way!" she giggled, "Come on Three, It's for memories!"

"I'll gladly take more pictures with you!" said Agent 3, "Just not that one!"

"Is that a promise?"

"Yes! just delete that one, it's embarrasing!"

"I'll delete it, but you have to take a selfie with me!" chirped Agent 4, she adjusted her seat to be as close to Agent Three as possible and linked her arm with his left arm.

"H-hey isn't this a little bit too close?" Agent 3 stuttered out, he could feel something soft while Agent 4 was pressing up against his arm which made him blush even more.

Of course Agent 4 was oblivious to this as she pulled out her phone. "It'll be fine!" said Agent 4 as she opened her camera app and smiled while she was linking arms with Agent Three.

*click*

"Okay, there can you please delete it now."

"Eh, I think I'll keep it."

"Wait!" exclaimed Agent 3, "You said you would delete it!"

Agent 4 just looked at him with a smug look and leaned into his ear and whispered in what Agent 3 thought was very attractive.

"I lied" as soon as she said that she pulled away and sat on her chair with a smile on her face while looking at the picture on her phone.

Agent 3 was still frozen on the spot with a huge blush on his face and his hand on his chest, trying to calm his heartbeat down.

I know that's just part of her cheery ways but there has to be a limit, a guy like me could misunderstand it Four, thought Agent 3 as he looked at Agent 4, she noticed the stare and returned it with a bright smile towards Agent 3.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1/6/2019
> 
> I really wish i could have fleshed this out more and made it a little bit longer but with time constraints and some other IRL things, I couldn't work on this more than I really wanted to.
> 
> I wanted to have a minimum of 2000 word count before I could publish this but, I'll just make the next chapter longer for you guys.
> 
> Also please, do not PM me to update my story I'll update it when I have time.
> 
> So for now goodbye and see you whenever I update this next which shouldn't be much longer than a week.


	4. Chapter 4

It was almost 4 PM, Agent 3 did not even notice how much time had passed when he was with Agent 4, she was just someone who he could connect with easily with her cheery personality, and he was sure Marie would wring him out to dry for forgetting that she had called him to come over to talk about something important.

He had already visited them many times before, so he did not need to go to the lobby to ask the clerk for their room number or anything, just for them to remind them that they had a visitor and Marie's or Callie's confirmation.

He was about to knock on the door when it suddenly opened.

"Great, you're here!"

It was Marie clad in a lime green hoodie that was one or two sizes too big for her, but he guessed it was for comfort so he did not pay attention to it that much, he thought it looked great on her though.

"Come in, quickly" said Marie as she stepped aside as she waited for him to go inside the apartment so she could close the door behind him, As soon as he entered he noticed Callie on the couch waving at him she had the same attire as Marie but instead of lime green it was magenta and unlike Marie's it was a perfect fit for her and with spats to match, she was patting the open spot next to her inviting him to come take a seat next to her.

"What's up Callie." he greeted as he went over to take a seat next to her, as soon as he did his arm was hugged by the ever so chirpy Callie.

"Callie you don't need to hug him as soon as he gets within reach of you." Marie said as she too took a seat next to him.

"Don't worry about it." Callie nonchalantly said, "A little bit of skin ship won't hurt anyone, isn't that right Three?"

"I, I guess so." Agent 3 stammered and then sighed, "I swear you and Agent 4 don't understand the meaning of personal space."

This caught Marie's attention.

"Speaking of Agent 4, I thought she was going to be gone for the week?" asked Marie.

Agent 3 chuckled at this, "She said that she just needed to move some stuff and it didn't take as long as she thought it would." he answered, recalling what Agent 4 said to him before they did some turf wars together.

"Oh really?" Marie had this thinking pose, not believing the excuse that Agent 4 told Agent 3.

How sly of her, thought Marie, Agent 4 wasn't one to do this normally but seeing the picture that went viral online probably got her to jump into action.

"Yeah, I thought it was weird too but I figured that she wasn't the type to lie." Agent 3 said.

Marie looked at him with a deadpanned expression, she wasn't sure if Agent 3 was serious or he's actually an idiot about these kind of things. But she supposed that it actually works in her favor.

She let out a soft giggle.

"Huh? What are you giggling for?" Agent 3 gave her a quizzical look, Callie didn't stick anything to his back while she was clinging to him did she? he reached for his back to check and found nothing.

Marie had a smile with her hand covering her mouth, "Oh nothing you need to worry your little head about." she said as she got comfortable on the couch and looked at Agent 3 while his attention was taken by Callie who was now asking him typical questions such as how has his day have been and what not.

Her eyes glazed as she looked at him, she swore she could feel butterflies in her stomach, It had been like this for quite some time now even before she went and recruited Agent 4 to help rescue Callie from DJ Octavio who had escaped from his snow globe. It was only some time ago when she realized she was in love with him, she got to know him after his first battle with DJ Octavio, and in time she guessed she got drawn in by his personality, how caring he was, and how quick he was to help his friends in need, and did she add that she thought he looked cute too?

Wait, thought Marie, wasn't she supposed to tell him something? what was it again she was supposed to tell him? her train of thought trailed off as she was lost on her own world as she was staring at Agent 3.

Unbeknownst to Marie, Callie had noticed this suddenly had this mischievous smirk on her face, then in a poor attempt of subtlety she pushed Agent 3 with enough force that his upper body would fall towards Marie, making him bump into Marie and since Marie was preoccupied in her own world she didn't notice this and as Agent 3 bumped into her she was was pushed too and was now laying on her back on the armrest of her side of the couch, with Agent 3 on top of her.

Marie swore her heart had stopped, she didn't know if she should be mad or thankful at Callie for setting up this predicament, she could feel his breath on her neck which sent shivers down her back, even though it's embarrassing she didn't want this moment to end, but all good things must come to an end as after a moment Agent 3 got off her quickly.

"S-Sorry!" stuttered Agent 3 as he righted himself on the couch at sat in it properly to Marie's disappointment, he then looked towards Callie, "What was that for Callie!"

"Oops." Callie said but had a smug smile on her face, clearly not hiding that she had done this on purpose. "I just remembered that I had set away some ice cream in the fridge, I'll be right back!" said Callie as she sent Marie a knowing look.

Agent 3 just shook his head and looked towards Marie who had a hand on her chest trying to calm down the fast beating of her heart.

"Sorry about that Marie, you know how Callie is at times." Apologized Agent 3.

"N-no, I get you." Marie said, I don't mind either way, she thought.

An awkward silence filled the room they were in for a few moments, with Marie still battling the erratic beating of her heart to even try to start a conversation and with Agent 3 still not knowing what to say after such an embarrassing event, but he might as well ask the main reason on why he was called here anyway.

Agent 3 coughed to relieve some of the awkwardness, "So uh, What did you guys need to tell me again?" Agent 3 said hesitantly, he hoped this would do away the awkward atmosphere since Callie was off to the kitchen doing who knows what.

"O-oh right." stuttered Marie, she then tried to regain her composure enough so that she could look Agent 3 in the eyes properly or look at his general direction without blushing as red as a tomato.

"A-anyway." she took a deep breath. "Our manager wants to invite you to an interview with us."

"What?!" Agent 3 exclaimed, "Why? weren't we trying to not get more attention to us?"

"That's what I said!" agreed Marie, "But with the rumors going around he said that an Interview will somewhat help to dial them down a bit."

"I don't know Marie, all this stuff is you guy's specialty, I'm just a normal squid."

"Yeah, a normal squid that is an Agent that kicks octarian butt." giggled Marie.

Agent 3 blushed in embarrassment, "Aside from the agent stuff I'm just a normal squid is what I meant!"

Marie just gave him a smile in return, "Anyway, It's only one interview."

Agent 3 was sure this will come bite him in the butt later on. He could feel it in his gut, something bad will definitely happen.

"Fine, but if something happens I will hold you responsible."

Marie just laughed, "That's the spirit! what's the worse that could happen?"

Agent 3 just looked at her with an expressionless look.

Did she just jinx us? Agent 3 thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1/13/2019
> 
> A/N:
> 
> Next up is in the interview, It was supposed to be in this chapter too but I didn't know how to connect them without it being unnatural.
> 
> Anyway, review what you didn't like and what you guys liked.


	5. Chapter 5

"Do I really need to wear a suit to this?"

Agent 3 asked while fidgeting with the collar of his all black suit that was bought for him courtesy of Callie, they were currently in a limo that was provided by the agency that Callie and Marie is affiliated with.

"Of course you have to wear a suit, you can't be wearing casual attire to something as big as this!" beamed Callie who was now in her signature squid sister outfit same as Marie, "You're going to be on TV with us, you gotta show off a little! isn't that right Marie?" she looked towards Marie who had this vacant look on her face while staring at Agent 3.

"H-huh? yeah uh yes." Marie stuttered out as she was taken out of her subtle staring at Agent 3, she did not see Agent 3 without the hero suit that often so she was taking in the sight before her she wished that she can take a picture for herself but that act surely wont go unnoticed by him.

Agent 3 just sighed at this and looked out towards the window to try and ready himself for the things to come.

Callie smiled at her cousin's antics and got closer to Marie just enough so she could whisper in her ear, "You like what you see huh?" which in turn had sent Marie into a blushing mess.

"W-wha-" Marie tried to say but Callie interrupted her.

"You can try and hide it all you want dear cousin but I've got you all figured out." whispered Callie.

Marie could literally feel the smug smile Callie must have on her face right now, she would have retorted back if she was not currently hiding her red face in her hands.

"S-s-shut up Cal!" spluttered Marie. "You're no better than me Cal!"

While that was true Callie was still having the time of her life and she may not be the sharpest tool in the shed but she knows how to handle her feelings well, It wasn't everyday she could get one up her cousin so she was certain she had the upper hand. Consider this payback for all the times you embarrassed me on the news!, thought Callie.

This went on for the whole ride to the studio where the interview was going to be held.

After arriving at the studio they were then situated into a room where they would wait until they're were called on to the show, inside the room was a couch and a TV that was showing the interview, there was a few snacks on a coffee table in which Agent 3 swore that Callie's eyes had formed literal stars on them.

"So this is it huh?" Agent 3 mumbled out as he took a seat on the couch, he was anxious about this, he liked it better when no one wanted to meddle into his personal life and just left him alone.

Marie seemed to notice this and reassured him. "Don't worry Three, I'll... I mean we'll be here with you." Marie then gave Agent 3 a small smile. "Just follow our lead. We'll interrupt if there's anything you can't answer directly."

"Yeah! We totally got your back!" Callie said whilst having a mouthful of the snacks on the table.

Three smiled at them. "Thanks girls." he said. They then heard the call from one of the producers that they needed to get ready. Marie had grabbed Callie's collar to get her to lay off the snacks as they needed to get ready.

They were told to follow a crew member backstage on where they were supposed to enter the show.

And we have some very special guests tonight! Please welcome the Squid Sisters and their friend, uh Three?

He looked at the cousins confused, It seemed that while they managed to get him to this interview Callie and Marie did not tell him his name and opted for his Agent number instead.

"You didn't think we'd tell them your name did you?" Callie said. "Besides it's better this way."

"You know that they'll probably dig my real name out from somewhere right?" chuckled Agent 3. It was only a matter of time before they did.

"Pfft. Let them, let's go." Marie nonchalantly said while grabbing his arm and leading him to the stage.

As they walked out of the curtains, they were greeted by a cheering croud all clapping at their entrance, he followed the cousins lead by waving at the crowd with a smile until they took a seat at the big couch right next to the host.

"Welcome! It's great seeing you guys here in the show!" Three did not watch that many TV shows so he has no idea what this guy's name is, so he opted to just call this guy Glasses because he was currently wearing rose tinted small round glasses with thin wire frames.

"The pleasure's all ours." Callie replied in her usual cheery voice..

"And I see you brought your friend too!" Glasses then stood up and reached up for a handshake, which Agent 3 returned. "So tell me, how did you guys meet?"

Marie took this as cue to answer, since Agent 3 might mess up and accidentally reveal the New Squidbeak Splatoon, She doesn't think Agent 3 is that dumb but this is the nonetheless the safer option, at least it was better than letting Callie answer it and that letting Callie answer might do more harm than good.

"We met Three here a few years ago, Through our grandpa since he was helping him out on work, didn't even know who we were too." said Marie. She had to make this story a bit believable so half-lies would do the trick just fine.

"Didn't know who the Squid Sisters were Ha! You must've been living under a rock kid!" Glasses quipped.

Agent 3 groaned, "I had just arrived on Inkopolis back then, and they were wearing disguises how was I supposed to know?" he said while crossing his arms and giving Marie a joking look.

Glasses gave him a big smile. "I guess I can understand that." his attention was then taken by one of the producers on set motioning him to just get to the chase and ask the big question everyone's been waiting an answer for.

"Anyway enough dilly dallying, People over the internet have been making theories about you guys." Glasses said while looking at a paper on his table, most likely a script or a note of what to say and ask Agent 3 assumed.

"Tell me which Sister do you have your eyes on? Callie or Marie?" asked Glasses, he was leaning into his table now, most likely interested in Agent 3's answer.

This question had Marie bug-eyed, this was her chance to hear what Agent 3 thought of her, she looked at him with an expectant look.

Agent 3 had a blush on his face, he was sure of it, do they ask these embarrassing questions all the time to all their guests? he glanced at Marie and saw her looking at him which only made him blush even redder.

"W-well, both of them are very pretty girls I'm sure any guy they set their eyes on will be very lucky." Agent 3 answered in the most neutral answer he could think of without offending the cousins or anything that gives him any more embarrassment. He did not see however how this affected Marie.

Marie had a small blush on her cheeks and smile while looking at Agent 3. Which was not unnoticed by Callie or Glasses, they decided to just keep it to themselves though and save them the embarrassment.

Glasses then continued, "Anyway, there was more talk on social media, In fact it was news to us just a few hours ago!" he then showed a picture of Agent 3 sitting at a table near the Galleria with Agent 4 hugging him from behind. It was blurry picture that some inkling in the square hurriedly took a picture of without bothering to fix the focus.

Ouch!, Agent 3 internally said, Marie had subtlety pinched his forearm and the longer she took a look at the picture the bigger the frown on her face and the tighter the pinch she gave Agent 3 became.

Agent 3 tried his best to hide his pain, he did not know why Marie would even pinch him, she knew that he and Agent 4 had hung out the day before. So why was she mad!?

He then looked towards Callie and gave her a look pleading her to help him. Callie was obviously enjoying the drama that had just unfolded in front of her and had this big smile on her face, she knew that the picture could be misunderstood in so many ways, but she was also enjoying the look of anger on her cousin's face.

"We certainly had to use our connections but we managed to track her down and invite her to the studio!"

Three, Callie, and Marie froze when they heard that, They did not expect this at all, they looked behind the couch to where they first entered the set, they saw Agent 4 with a all dark colored version of the Hero hoodie and a mini skirt with spats under it.

She looked at the three and waved at them with a big smile on her face. Callie returned the wave, but Marie and Agent 3 had different reactions, Marie as upset and her pinching got even worse, Agent 3 resisted it with a poker-face trying to not show his pain.

"Heey!" was all Agent 4 said as she went over to take a seat right next to Agent 3 on the space Callie made, It was then that Agent 3 could not think of anything else that would make this even worse, he could only hope that Marie could ease off the pinching if anything else ever happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1/20/2019
> 
> A/N:
> 
> Lost internet connection a couple of days ago, couldn't get my files in google docs so I had to redo the whole chapter using my phone using my memory. As soon as I get my connection back I'll be uploading the second part to this.
> 
> Anyway, reviews are appreciated and please do not PM me to update it gets really bothersome.
> 
> Sorry again for the lower quality chapter, I typed this on my phone and used it to upload using desktop mode. If you see any mistakes please do let me know, I'll be able to edit them.
> 
> See you guys in the next part.


	6. Chapter 6

"What are you doing here?" Marie said to Agent 4 with venom in her voice, she still kept her grip on Agent 3's forearm he did not mind it much since it was much better than getting pinched.

Agent 4 just smiled at Marie, "I got invited of course, And I wanted to surprise you all!" she beamed.

Marie was about to give a reply but she was interrupted by Glasses, "It seems you guys are acquainted, what's the story for that if you don't mind me asking of course."

"Let's just say it was related to my line of work, and I can't go much more detailed than that, Sorry!" Agent 4 said nonchalantly, it was good that she didn't say anything about the New Squidbeak Splatoon but what she said wasn't actually better.

Agent 3 meanwhile was really worried. The look in Marie's face if he could put it into words was absolutely terrifying If looks could kill he swore that Agent 4 would have died the moment she got out from backstage. If he let this go on he doesn't know what will happen but for the sake of the ink circulation in his arm he needs to diffuse this somehow.

So he did the only thing he can do, he got Marie to let go of his arm and put the said arm around her shoulder.

"T-Three?! Wha-" Marie gasped out, gone was the scary look on her face and it was now replaced with a look of embarrassment and a huge blush on her cheeks.

"Calm down Marie." Agent 3 said to her as he looked into her eyes and gave her shoulder a soft squeeze, not aware of how they looked so much like a couple.

Marie just stayed quiet and looked away, anything was better than making eye contact at him in this situation right now if she wasn't careful she could get lost in his eyes and she might do something she might (not) regret in front of a live audience.

Meanwhile, Agent 4 just looked at them with puffed cheeks, seemingly irritated. Callie just looked on with an undecipherable look on her face.

"Oh ho! It looks like the rumors that you're dating one of the Squid Sisters might have some merit huh?" Glasses questioned, seeing their current position and how they looked right now was sure to bring up their ratings, he could see Four's irritated face and can think of many ways he could spice things up and hopefully get a rise out them.

"H-huh?!" Agent 3 blurted out, he then became aware of he and Marie's position. "No wai-" he then tried to continue before being cut off by Marie.

Suddenly feeling assertive Marie snuggled into Agent 3's chest. "It just might be." she said while giving a smug smile towards Agent 4.

"Hah?! Stop lying!" Agent 4 growled out. It seemed like Agent 4 wasn't able to keep watching this charade any longer, If that's how you want to play it Marie, then so be it, she thought to herself as she went ahead and intertwined her arms on Agent 3's left arm and snuggled with it.

Marie noticed this and sent Agent 4 a menacing glare. "Hey! You can't do that!" Marie chastised.

"Says who?!" was Agent 4's immediate reply.

"H-hey girls!?" exclaimed a confused Agent 3, he once again looked towards Callie for an explanation or for some help, but all he received from her was a slightly blushing cheeks and a thumbs up. Basically just feeding him into the wolves on his own.

He couldn't blame her, right now the worst thing you could do was meddle in whatever disagreement or fight Marie had with Agent 4. He was curious though, Agent 4 never acted like this with Marie before, they were always such in good terms.

He then tried to look towards Callie again for help in diffusing the situation before it gets even worse. They were live on TV for squid's sake.

"Callie!" he said as he gave her a look.

"Hehe okay!" Callie giggled as she stood up and tried to pry him away from the two with abysmal results.

Meanwhile, Glasses was now motioning for the on set camera crew to focus on the four unsuspecting inklings. This was going to be a hit he can feel it in his tentacles, and he was sure as heck he wasn't going to let it go to waste.

"Come on!" grunted Callie as she tried her best to pry Agent 3 away from the two girls, one of which was hugging one of his arms pretty tight and the other snuggling up to Three as she wrapped his right arm around herself, keyword tried. It seemed that Marie had completely forgotten what their original goal was after Agent 4 had unexpectedly showed herself into the show.

"Marie! you should be the one with more self-control and I'm the one who gets carried away by emotions and all that jazz, You're totally stealing my thing here." she half-joked.

"Stay out of this Cal, this pipsqueak needs to learn her place know her place." said Marie giving a jab at Agent 4's height.

This insult was enough that it made Agent 4 stand up and glare at Marie.

"Who are you calling pipsqueak?! Grandma!" Agent 4 said harshly.

Marie followed suit and also stood up went eye to eye with Agent 4 and pushed her with an index finger pointed at Agent 4's chest.

"Excuse me!?" exclaimed Marie. "I'm still young! Just because you don't grow as good as me doesn't mean I'm a grandma."

"I grow as normal as any other squid thank you very much." Agent 4 said as she went closer to Marie, they were now glaring at each other eye to eye, Agent 3 swore he could see sparks coming out of their eyes. Why wasn't any of the crew or the host doing something to stop this?

He sent a look towards Callie, "This is getting out of control Cal!" he mouthed to her.

Thankfully she understood and went to try and calm the two girls down again.

While Callie was off to calm the two girls down Agent 3's attention was taken by Glasses.

"So, this kind of thing happens a lot?" asked Glasses.

"Uh, No it's the first I've seen Marie get all worked up like this, she and Four were always on the best terms." said Agent 3, he was genuinely curious though. Maybe Four and Marie had a disagreement a while back that he did not know of? They were awfully clingy too.

Glasses crossed his arms, "Speaking of Four, why are you guys called by numbers?" he asked.

Agent 3 fidgeted uncomfortably. "I-it's kind of our nickname, I guess?"

"That's one weird nickname don't you think?" Glasses said, "I mean why pick numbers if it's going to be a nickname."

Agent 3 laughed nervously, "Haha I-I don't know." he said as he tried to look away while scratching his head.

"Stay out of this Callie!" he heard Agent 4 all but scream and he then turned his attention back at the three girls, only to be found by the face of Callie heading straight towards his.

There was a collective gasp all over the studio, Agent 4's and Marie's mouth's looked like it would go through the floor, Glasses only had this amused smile while looking at Agent 3.

Callie pulled away with a thin line of saliva connecting her lips from Agent 3, and with a blushing face she covered her lips, "Uh, I-I'll be right back." she stuttered as she stood up and ran backstage to the waiting room they were in earlier.

Agent 3 had a blank face and glazed eyes as he stood there like he was turned into a statue by Medusa herself, and Agent 4 and Marie had this unreadable expression on their faces while looking at Agent 3.

Glasses looked at both parties on the set and chuckled.

"I guess this concludes our interview huh?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, thanks for reading. University's been really hectic as of late and I probably won't be able to write as freely as I wanted. I'll try my best to get updates out but don't expect it to be soon.
> 
> Thank you for understanding.
> 
> Until the next update. See you!


	7. Chapter 7

What am I going to do now? Agent 3 thought as he rubbed a hand over his face, he was now laying in the guest bed in the Cuttlefish Cabin since his apartment was still a no go zone because of the paparazzi even more so now because of what happened earlier.

Callie was on top of Agent 3 while their lips were connected, then she pulled away with a thin line of saliva connecting her lips from Agent 3 looking at him with a blushing face that he would never forget.

Agent 3 immediately blushed and shook his head to rid him of that thought, he then buried his face into his pillow and let out a groan. He could not rid his mind of the image of Callie's expression, It's been circling around his mind for the whole journey home.

He opted to just go home alone since being in the same limo with Callie or any of the girls right now would be beyond awkward for him. He couldn't even make small talk with Agent 4 or Marie, They've been quiet ever since the incident, but he did see them glance at him from time to time.

So thanks to Cap'n Cuttlefish showing him the secret passageways to get to the cabin safely, he said his goodbyes which was returned by Agent 4 and Marie even though they had a somewhat solemn tone to it. Callie, on the other hand, could not look at his direction and only muttered a word he could not hear since it was so low.

He rolled to his side and sighed once more, he was sure that Callie hated his guts right now, what kind of friend takes their friend's first kiss? even if it was an accident. He then looked at the clock at his bedside.

It read 1:39 AM, He needed to get some sleep soon and settle some things for tomorrow and hopefully get the time to visit Marie and Callie's apartment to apologize to Callie.

That would be super awkward though, he doesn't think he could look Callie straight in the eyes right now. He let out a sigh as he stared at the ceiling. As he was staring his thoughts drifted to Agent 4 and Marie.

Would their lips be as soft as Callie's? he thought before immediately blushing and covering his face with his pillow.

"Where did that come from!" he said muffled by the pillow. "I'm sure if they knew what I was thought then they would surely think I'm weird for thinking that."

"I know!" he said as he took his phone out. "I'll just send Callie an apology text."

After a few moments of trying to type out an appropriate and lengthy message to Callie, Agent 3 hit send on his phone.

"There, done." he said. He'll deal with it more tomorrow, for now he needed some much needed sleep.

I hope everything is okay tomorrow, was his final thoughts that lingered in his mind before falling asleep.

Meanwhile, at the said apartment Agent 4 and Marie were now sitting on the couch since Callie had immediately ran to her room and locked herself inside. Leaving the two girls alone in the living room. They should've been sleeping because it was now past midnight, but Marie doesn't think anyone will be able to sleep now because of what happened.

They both were now just sitting on the couch watching the TV, Marie had taken out two blankets for them to cover themselves with. Separately of course.

"This is all your fault." Agent 4 grumbled out, Agent 4 could not return home at this time and so Marie begrudgingly invited her to sleep the night on her and Callie's apartment.

Marie gave Agent 4 a dirty look, "My fault? You were the one who pushed my cousin!" she exclaimed, her face had a solemn look and her thoughts returned to the kiss earlier, "And now she's locked herself inside her room."

"Tsk." Agent 4 bit her lip as she looked to the side. "It should've been my lips on his." she mumbled out as she crossed her arms.

"Pfft, How do you know he'll kiss you and not me?" asked Marie, annoyed at Agent 4 for even thinking that would happen.

"Excuse me? have you seen this cute face of mine?" said Agent 4 as she posed at adopted a cute smile on her face.

Marie stared at her with a deadpan look.

"Nope, just some bratty squid." answered Marie as she switched her attention to the TV, they weren't really watching anything in particular since nothing really good is on at this hour, they just needed something to do to keep them from thinking about what happened earlier.

"Whatever." huffed Agent 4 as she took out her phone and opened it.

Marie being the curious inkgirl that she is glanced at the phone and saw Agent 4's lock screen and became wide-eyed at what she saw.

It was the picture Agent 4 took of Agent 3 when he was eating his seanwich from the other day.

This got Marie to furrow her brows and click her tongue.

Agent 4 noticed this and turned to look at Marie but Marie quickly turned her attention to the TV, not wanting to show her jealousy, she wouldn't hear the end of it from Agent 4.

But suddenly she heard a few ominous giggling coming out from Callie's room, she then tapped Agent 4's shoulder to get her attention.

"What now Marie? Can't you see I'm busy?" Agent 4 grumbled out but was shushed by Marie.

"Quiet, can you hear that?"

This got Agent 4 to try and focus her hearing to hear what Marie was talking about. But she couldn't hear anything apart from the TV showing a documentary about something she doesn't care about.

"I don't hear anything, it seems you're getting older Grandma, hearing things that aren't there." chuckled Agent 4 but as she went to go back to look at her phone the giggling continued and looked towards where it was coming from.

Marie gave her a smug look, "Told ya so." said Marie.

Agent 4 just blew a raspberry at her in response, "Let's just check out why Callie's making that noise." she grumbled as she stood up and pocketed her phone.

Marie followed suit with a smile still plastered on her face which only served to irritate Agent 4 more.

They went and opened the door to Callie's room slightly just enough to peek through it, and what they saw was forever etched into their minds forever.

It was Callie holding a large cushion that had a picture taped into it's front, they couldn't see what picture it was because the light was dim and Callie was blocking the view but they were sure that it had some kind of paper or something taped in front of it.

Callie then proceeded to hug and rub herself into the pillow letting out slight gasps and giggling with every squeeze of the pillow and kissing the picture every now and then. This caused Marie and Agent 4 to sharply gasp from shock but they quickly covered their mouths to prevent Callie from noticing.

But unfortunately for them Callie did notice.

"Four? Marie?" Callie said as she looked behind her and spoke in a tone that was far different from Callie's high and chirpy tone, it was really low and dark almost as if she was a ghost from a horror film.

This sent chills down the peeking girl's back, as they quickly closed the door.

"I-I'm not s-seeing things r-right?" shivered Agent 4 as she curled up into a ball right next to Marie, seeing the look that Callie gave them was frightening to say the least.

Marie coughed, "I'm sure we just saw wrong. Callie was never that scary before." she said as she opened the door slightly to confirm it, but was met with the frightening gaze from Callie.

"You saw didn't you?"

Marie swiftly closed the door like her life depended on it and ran to her room followed by Agent 4, they definitely weren't going to sleep that night anyway.

Later, when they settled into Marie's room, they reassured themselves that it was just their eyes playing a trick on them, It was just because of the shock of the kiss earlier still had their minds all jumbled up.

Yes, that's it. It was all a trick. was both the girls final thoughts before heading out to sleep.

Back at Callie, she opened the door to her room to peek out to try to explain things, she doesn't know what she'll do if she was caught kissing her Agent 3 body pillow. She would die in embarrassment, she had this pillow for quite some time now, and has been hiding it under her bed, it's a miracle that Marie hadn't found it since she usually was in charge of cleaning.

But worst of all, they might tell Agent 3.

The thought of it sent her mind into overload, she would rather die and get eaten by salmonids rather than to let that happen. But it seems that she was too late as the two girls already locked themselves up inside Marie's room.

"How am I going to fix this now?" she said to herself, It wasn't even that long since the kiss earlier, which by the way still sent all kinds of feelings inside her stomach and heart. Just thinking about it made her legs feel like jelly. She promised herself that she would let Marie win, and she was doing so good in resisting her feelings.

But that kiss, It just made her want to go find Agent 3 and do all M-rated stuff to him. But she knew she couldn't keep it in for so long.

She let out a giggle and blushed, she had both palms on her cheeks to try and bring it down a little bit but it seems that her emotions were getting the best of her. The more she thought of how she actually locked lips with him sent electricity up her back. If she concentrates a bit she swore she could still feel his lips as if she was still kissing him there.

If you won't make a move, then I will. Callie thought determined.

Then suddenly her phone notification rang.

She went to pick it up and took a look at message that was sent to her.

"This will do nicely." giggled Callie as she set down her phone and went to lay in her bed, with the body pillow of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey thanks for reading,
> 
> I have some plans for the three girls in the next chapter, I would've added it here as continuation but I felt like it needed it's own chapter, this chapter was just kind of the aftermath of what happened and things like that.
> 
> Sorry if it wasn't what you were expecting.


	8. Chapter 8

Agent 4 woke up started because of a sound of a door closing outside the room obviously she was a light sleeper unlike Marie, she woke up all rolled up like a sushi in the spare comforter that Marie had in her closet, she looked at the digital clock on the nightstand next to Marie's bed and saw that it was 8:30 AM. Considering they only had a few hours of sleep she was surprised at herself that she managed to wake up feeling somewhat refreshed.

She then got up and folded the comforter as nicely as she could, and went outside Marie's room, she was expecting to see Callie in the living room but found it empty, the only thing she found was a note stuck to the coffee table.

Agent 4 got closer to the coffee table and took the note out and read it.

_I'll be back later, I have some things to take care of._

__

__

_Love Callie._

Agent 4 figured she was off to buy some groceries or something, so she paid it little mind and took out her phone and prepared to message Agent 3.

Just because Callie got first taste doesn't mean she'll be giving up, It'll be just more motivation for her to keep trying harder.

She let out a blissful sigh and even started to drool for a second while thinking about scenarios about Agent 3 and her being on dates before she slapped herself in the cheeks lightly to fight the blush from coming.

Whoa there, get a hold of yourself girl, she thought as she sent a message to Agent 3, hoping to make plans to hang out today.

AGENT 4: Mornin' Three! Whatcha doing!

And after a moment she received a message back. What she read however made her frown in deeply,

AGENT 3: Morning Four, Callie and I are supposed to meet up inside Arowana Mall to get some breakfast, you're welcome to join us if you want!

So last night wasn't a trick, she does have feelings for him, Agent 4 thought with a shiver still remembering Callie's expression last night, obviously Callie's trying to get more chances to get ahead.

Not on her watch.

She could not let this go any further, Callie already had a sizable head start with the kiss last night, and she wasn't going to let her get in more.

So she fixed her face up making sure to not make any noise that could possibly wake Marie up and giving her more problems to deal with, so after all that was done she quickly headed out the door and closed it.

As Agent 4 closed the door Marie had just groggily woke up and headed outside her room into the living room, and looked around.

"Where the heck did everyone go?" she said, with a yawn obviously still pretty tired.

* * *

It was nearing the time when Agent 3 and Callie was supposed to meet up, Agent 4 got to the entrance of Arowana Mall really early since she forgot to ask where in the mall they were going to meet.

 _Stupid girl,_ she thought while internally she was beating her head into a wall for her stupidity, she rushed here without even sending a text back.

While she was berating herself a hand held on to her shoulder, and she tensed for a second and she quickly turned around to look behind her.

As soon as she got a good look at the assailant her body relaxed and she immediately recognized the yellow-green ink color that Agent 3 had, I mean who would even forget a characteristic of someone who had romantic feelings for?

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you there Four." Agent 3 said apologetically.

She noticed that she still had her hands up and fists at the ready and immediately straightened herself out to try and recover herself.

"N-no you didn't scare me, not at all!" she said as she let out a nervous laugh.

"Either way, I shouldn't have sneaked behind you like that." Agent 3 apologized.

"It's okay! Really!" Agent 4 said reassuringly, she looked behind him and looked around but she saw no sign of Callie, "Huh? Where's Callie?" she asked.

"Oh! Callie texted me that she'll be running a little bit late. Didn't say why, but I texted her where were eating." Agent 3 answered.

This earned a smile from Agent 4, anything that would give her more alone time with Agent 3 is more than appreciated, lately he's been hanging out more with the Squid Sisters in the Cuttlefish Cabin, even though she was always welcome to join them, In her opinion being alone with him even thought it was just until Callie got here was even better.

The thought of Callie coming later is a disappointment to her but It was also a good thing. She can't let the two of them be alone after the ordeal last night her thoughts were then interrupted with Agent 3 saying something.

"Anyway, let's go eat at this place that I've had my eyes on lately." he said as he grabbed her hand to lead her to where they were going to eat.

To him it was just a normal friend holding another friends hand, to Agent 4 however it was a euphoric experience.

 _We definitely look like we're on a date right now,_ she thought to herself with a blissful smile, and she swore that her cheeks was red as a tomato now.

After a short walk hand in hand to the supposed cafe Agent 3 looked towards Agent 4 and noticed that she was staring at where their hands were joined with a noticeable red hue on her cheeks, In his mind he must've been making Agent 4 uncomfortable and embarrassed, So he quickly disconnected his hand from hers. To the disappointment of Agent 4.

"Sorry Four, Didn't mean to hold your hand like that." Apologized Agent 3 as they were lead to their table, he opted to take a seat at the opposite of Agent 4 but she had insisted that they take a seat right next to each other.

"I-I don't mind." stuttered Agent 4, "Though I would have liked it even more if we stayed holding hands." she muttered under her breath.

"Sorry what?"

"Nothing!" she swiftly replied back as she took the menu and pretended to look through the selection.

Agent 3 couldn't decipher what she said because it was of the volume of the other people talking inside the cafe, the people in the cafe were looking towards their direction. Obviously they recognize them from the show last night.

Agent 3 supposed it had something to do with Marie and Callie being present on the show as well being the superstars they are. But he sure would like it if they stopped staring and whispering at their friends in their general direction. All this attention is very uncomfortable for him.

Agent 3 shrugged it off and went ahead and called a waiter so that their orders would be taken.

After their orders were taken, the waiter gave a short bow and went ahead to the kitchen, service was exceptionally fast in Agent 3's opinion, as not even 15 minutes had passed that they had already received their food.

After the waiter had brought them their order, the waiter had pat Agent 3 on his shoulder and gave him a thumbs up, he hasn't got a single clue on why the waiter did that though so he just shrugged it off. He glanced at Agent 4 and saw her looking at the food with absolute glee.

Agent 3 watched her take a bite with her spoon and chuckled as he saw her let out a blissful sigh with in his opinion the cutest expression on her face to date.

Agent 4 noticed him looking at her and blushed, "W-what is it?" she asked him hesitantly.

"Nothing." chuckled Agent 3, "I was just thinking of how cute you look when food is right in front of you." Agent 3 said recalling the last time they went out, without even thinking about the words he just uttered in front of Agent 4 and went ahead to focus on his own food.

Agent 4 however was holding back a blush and she was trying hard not to smile and replied with a meek, "Oh." while trying to keep it cool and brush it off, In which she was failing to do.

It was the second time Agent 3's said Agent 4 was cute, and to her it never gets old. If she had that recorded she'll have that on repeat whenever she falls asleep. Agent 4's thoughts then drifted to a scene where Agent 3 was hugging her and calling her cute and beautiful and was going closer as if he was going to kiss her. But she immediately shook her head out of those thoughts by hitting her head onto the table and hitting it with her fists which attracted some of the attention of the other customers.

Agent 3 too was startled by this sudden action and immediately asked her if she was okay, to which she replied with a gleeful yes and showed him a smile that could melt even the coldest of hearts.

Agent 3 blushed red, "G-good to know, Four" he stuttered out and redirected his gaze on the food on his plate, he was afraid that if he looked a little bit longer he would fall for Agent 4, Why couldn't she smile like that all the time? _She would surely have a huge following, Agent 3 thought._

Well to be honest after the show last night, he was sure there were already some fan sites about her anyway out there.

A few moments had passed Agent 4 was now happily eating her food with a bright smile on her face, seemingly satisfied and content with something. Agent 3 couldn't tell if it was because of the food or something else, he noticed that she was glancing at him from time to time, which he didn't mind but he sure would like it if she would say if there was something wrong.

_"You two sure look like you're having fun."_

Both agents flinched and looked to their side to see Callie with a big smile, Agent 3 thought it was weird, for a second there Callie sounded really mad. He then looked at Callie, She was dressed really nice as if she had put a lot of time and effort into making herself look her best today.

_"So, What'd I miss?" said Callie as she gave Agent 3 a smile._

When Callie directed that question to him with a smile like that, he could feel that there was something amiss, but shrugged it off. This was Callie. She was the happiest and chirpiest of the Squid Sisters, surely his guts telling him that trouble was gonna come was just messing with him.

Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2/24/2019
> 
> Another chapter here, This should've been posted a on Thursday but real life happened.
> 
> I also got my wisdom tooth removed, It wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be. Real painless.
> 
> until next time.


	9. Chapter 9

_Oh crud._

Was the only thought lingering inside Agent 4's mind as she tried to avoid eye contact with Callie who was now giving her the biggest stink eye of all time. She kind of expected her to be angry, but she didn't think it'll be to this extent.

In return she just gave Callie a small smile in hopes that this will calm her down somewhat, But it only made Callie even more angrier. She then glanced at Agent 3 who had a bead of sweat rolling off his forehead because of the glare Callie was sending to Agent 4.

Agent 4 got Agent 3's attention, "Why's she giving me that look for?" she whispered to Agent 3.

"I-I might have forgot to tell Callie that you were coming." Agent 3 nervously chuckled.

Agent 4 just gave Agent 3 a deadpan look. Both then heard a fist hitting the table and swiftly turned her head to look at the source.

"You guys are being very rude y'know?" said Callie as she gave them a sickeningly sweet smile, "You can't just have secret conversations when one of your friends is with you, right?" Callie turned her attention to how close Agent 4 and Agent 3 were at the moment and prepared to hit the table again in envy.

But Agent 3 held Callie's hand down before she could and gave her a look, It would be bad if they were thrown out for disturbing the other customers.

Agent 3 then chuckled nervously, and looked Callie straight in the eyes, "Let's not cause a commotion here, I'm pretty sure you and I don't want anymore rumors to spread online." said Agent 3 as he gestured to the inklings that were trying desperately to inconspicuously eavesdrop on them.

Callie relented and puffed her cheeks out in irritation.

"Then hold my hand to make sure I don't then." Callie suddenly said as she reached her hand across the table.

This surprised Agent 3, he gave Callie a look that said 'really?' but she brushed it off and was adamant that Agent 3 hold her hand and after a few moments and Callie keeping her determined look he finally relented and held her hand which made her so delighted. But she wouldn't let Agent 3 know that.

Agent 3 didn't notice but Agent 4 sure did. Callie had planned to use this to get Agent 3 to hold her hand to 'calm' her down, the girl must have noticed how unconsciously touchy Agent 3 was if he wanted to calm someone down just like what he did to Marie that day on the interview. Agent 4 didn't think Callie had paid attention to it that much, but she supposed Callie wouldn't be a decent agent if she wasn't at least observant.

 _So wait, so being an airhead was just an act?,_ Agent 4 thought, but thought nothing of it since Marie would have noticed it before her.

Agent 4 then noticed Callie giving her a sly smile, obviously rubbing it in her face that Agent 3 was now holding her hand, Callie had even let out an exaggerated blissful sigh just to get on her nerves.

 _Yep, definitely an act_ , she thought bitterly, in return she gave Callie a scowl and made a promise in her head that she'll get one up her next time.

* * *

They had now left the restaurant at the behest of Callie and was now walking to Wahoo World, apparently the reason why Callie had invited Agent 3 out was because she wanted him to accompany her to Wahoo World not to participate in the turf wars but to try out the new ride that just opened. Agent 3 could not refuse her since he did send her a text message saying that he'll do anything to apologize.

So after a short train ride to Wahoo World and getting their tickets, they now were off to their destination, hopefully without anything crazy happening, but hoping for that seemed like a far cry now.

"Uh, girls?" called out Agent 3 while walking in between the two girls who were now holding on to Agent 3's arms, both girls looked up at him at the same time to know why they were being called.

"Isn't it about time you guys let me go?" he asked, he could feel his arms going numb from how tight they were holding him, he wasn't going anywhere, but all he got in response was Agent 4 pouting and Callie doing a simple shake of her head.

Agent 3 let out a sigh, he figured as much.

Normally he wouldn't have minded it at all, but the nasty looks from the male inklings they were passing by were starting to bother him, it seemed like almost everyone recognizes them. Agent 4 seemed to be oblivious to them though, he wondered how Agent 4 was taking this all in and being so cool about it cause he certainly was not going to get used to all this.

He let another sigh.

He really misses the times when he was just a somewhat normal inkling, the times when he didn't get this much attention and could do his own things without anyone butting their noses in. He had to set his stuff in private since he was getting so many notifications from people he didn't know, he even got a couple of invites to shows in inkopolis but he ignored those, he didn't want another mishap like yesterday.

He had enough headaches to deal with.

While he was having his inner monologue he didn't notice that Callie had gotten separated from them because of several reporters coming out of nowhere, He was about to help her but his hand was suddenly pulled by Agent 4.

"Let's go Three!" she said.

"But what abou-"

"We'll come back for her later, now come on!" she cut him off while dragging him away. What he didn't notice though was the smile Agent 4 sent Callie and the glare Callie gave in return.

* * *

She was sure Callie will find them sooner or later, but like she said she'll do anything to get some alone time with him she'll make sure to make use of her time. She was so glad she saved the contact information of the media company that invited them to the interview.

Just couple of little lies and Callie's name and wahoo world was enough to get them to send some reporters, while she was internally laughing at the face she thought Callie was making right now, she was cut off from her inner thoughts by a inkling in a ridiculous huge heart costume.

"Oh! What a cute couple you guys are!" the squid in the costume said happily.

"Uh no tha-" she heard Agent 3 say but was cut off by the unnamed squid.

"Please come with us!"

Suddenly there we're two more squids in the same ridiculous costume behind them and urged them into the building which was themed to be like a cathedral, and as they went inside there was a photo shoot set, with a couple of what looked like some wedding decorations.

 _Wait, is this?_ she thought, she then took a glance at Agent 3 and saw that he was looking around the place and had a small blush in his cheeks and had already thought of what was going to happen, he then looked at her with a panicked look, but this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and she'll be damned if she let this slip by her hands.

"Sorry if this is all sudden but we were wondering if you guys wanted to be our models for this wedding photo shoot, It's only for trying out the clothes and we'll be sure to compensate you guys!" A lady in a suit said.

She didn't know when the lady in a suit showed up but couldn't careless.

Agent 3 tried to decline but was promptly shut up by Agent 4's grip in his forearm, seriously the girl had a monstrous grip when she wanted to.

"We'd love to!" chirped Agent 4, this was the kind of opportunity that she was looking for, she wondered if they'll let her keep some of the photos for herself.

"Great!" the lady chirped out, "Let's get you all suited up!"

The lady then motioned her lackeys to escort Agent 3 to to the dressing room for males.

"Wait! Four!" Agent 3 cried out.

Poor Agent 3, but this is an opportunity she cannot miss.

"I have the perfect dress for you, we just need to set some adjustments to fit your size." the lady said while Agent 4 was led into a separate dressing room.

"I'm going to make your boyfriend speechless after I'm done with you." the lady cackled with laughter, Agent 4 didn't bother correcting her.

Agent 4 smiled, "Then I'll be in your care." she said as she took a seat.

* * *

"According to the tracker Agent 3 and Agent 4 must be in here somewhere." said Marie as she was looking at her phone, the headphones that both agents wore was outfitted with a tracker that her grandpa had installed, It only showed the general location of where the person is but it'll have to do. After all, it wasn't like they were funded by the government to have something as an accurate location tracker. Sheldon just owed them a couple of favors and the Captain had cashed them in, gotta at least have good equipment out in the field.

Marie bit her lip in frustration.

"I can't believe Agent 4 had invited Agent 3 into a date before me, this isn't fair." she complained, No matter, she'll make sure Agent 3 will have eyes only for her.

She'll make sure of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Managed to squeeze this in, I had some spare time to write even though I wanted some more progression added in since some of you might think this is progressing too slowly.
> 
> Finals are next week and after that i'll be able to write more freely.
> 
> Anyway, tell me what you liked and didn't liked in the reviews, it's always appreciated to know what I did wrong and what I did right.
> 
> I'll see you all next update.


	10. Chapter 10

"Cod danged brat." fumed Callie.

After finally getting rid of the annoying press with the help of the park's security, she had found that Agent 4 and 3 we're gone. And there was no way that Three could have left without even saying a word, he was too nice for that. So that led her to believe that Agent 4 was the one behind the press knowing that she was here.

Sure, she wasn't hiding her face at all, and people could've posted several pictures of her being with both agents at the amusement park, but It wouldn't have made the press move at least until tomorrow. She had thought about this day so perfectly, how the heck did it go so wrong?

So, here she was, walking aimlessly around the amusement park hoping that she'll run into them.

"When I get my hands on that squid, I'll wring her out to dry." Callie grumbled to herself, even some of the squids on her path that was going to try and get her autograph gave way to her when they saw the aura she was exerting. No one wanted to mess with an angry Callie.

Then as she was too busy on her thoughts of revenge for Agent 4 she had bumped into someone, which made her land on her butt on the ground.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" The person said, "What the? Callie?"

Callie looked at the unknown squid that had just called her name, the voice she heard was really familiar.

And as she looked up she saw Marie who was in her disguise, Marie was wearing a green hat with her bang showing with a white mask to hide her face complete with a green t-shirt, she also had appeared to lose some of the beauty marks to further hide her identity.

"Marie?" asked Callie, "What are you doing here?"

"Trying to find Agent 3, Agent 4 had taken him out somewhere probably and tracked them out here, What are you doing here?"

Apparently Marie didn't know that Callie was the one who originally invited him first, perfect she'll be able to get Marie to help her find the two.

"Oh you know, just hanging around haha!" Callie chirped, she hoped that she can fool Marie with her usual happy tone.

"Right." Marie said in a monotone voice, she obviously didn't believe in what Callie said. "Whatever, Come on help me find them."

Callie did a cheer, thinking that she was successful in fooling Marie, Marie just couldn't be bothered when there are more pressing matters.

"Hey, what are you doing come on." Marie had already been a few steps away.

Callie got startled by this, "H-Hey! Wait up!" she said.

* * *

_You've got this_ , thought Agent 4, There's no turning back now.

Agent 4 couldn't believe this was happening. A wedding photoshoot, with Agent 3, they were now currently in the set in there respective clothing, Agent 3 being in a hakama and Agent 4 wearing a shiromuku. They had been asked to hold hands and be as close as they can to each other, much to her enjoyment.

Since the photographers are taking quite some time to set up their tools Agent 3 leaned down a bit to whisper in Agent 4's ear.

"Are you really okay with this?" Agent 3 asked softly, his warm breath lingering behind her ear and making her body feel like it was going to melt into ink in any second.

"I-I'm sure!" stuttered Agent 4, she couldn't even look him straight in the eyes at the moment, every time she did her stomach would do somersaults and make her feel like throwing up. Her brain was going haywire, all her thoughts were centered around Agent 3, why was she feeling like this? wasn't she the one who wanted to take this photo-shoot? This was an opportunity! A really big one!, she glanced at him again and at the brief moment that she glanced at him she swore her breathing hitched.

"Well, if you're sure about this, let's enjoy it while we can!" he smiled at her. Her heart swooned at the smile he gave her, was he always this charming? Or was it because of what he was wearing right now? Why was her heart beating so fast? Why was she the one freezing up? Wasn't this all her idea?

Her thoughts continued like this over and over again, it was only interrupted by the voice of the lady in the suit.

"Sorry for the wait, had a problem with the camera you see." said the lady, "Anyway we need you to just stay still for for the duration."

the lady then proceeded to adjust their posture, and after a few moments went back to the photographers side and pulled out a card, in it was a picture of two inklings facing each other, with their hands interlocked passionately, and their faces as close as it can be with eyes closed.

We have to do that?!, Agent 4 thought. She felt more heat go into her cheeks.

Agent 3 let out a cough to get her attention.

"Y-you know, we can still stop this," said Agent 3, "You don't have to force yourself Four."

Agent 4 took a deep breath to calm her nerves, she wasn't going to miss this chance, it was now or never.

Without a word back to Agent 3, she took both of his hands and looked him in the eyes.

"Y-you know Three, I've been meaning to tell you something." Agent 4 said shyly but still keeping her eyes on Agent 3, seemingly determined to get this through to him.

"Huh?" was the clever response from her fellow agent, however she giggled at this and just continued instead.

She gave him a soft look, "You always look so cute when you make that face you're making right now," said Agent 4, Agent 3 opened his mouth to reply but was stopped by her finger by keeping his mouth closed, "You're really dense too, not even noticing our feelings."

Agent 3 made a face as if to say that she was wrong.

She giggled once again and leaned closer to him, she could feel his nervous breathing touch her lips, making her knees weak but she stayed strong. She had taken a firm hold of Agent 3's hands and pulled him closer to her.

His hands were now on the curve of her hips, "Uhh," was the only thing that came out of his mouth.

She smiled at him, "Maybe this will give you a clue on my feelings." were her final words before closing the gap that was left on their lips.

* * *

Meanwhile, the two cousins are still walking around, trying and failing to find the two agents, they've been walking for almost two hours now and Callie was getting irritated at their slow progress.

"We'll never find them like this!" groaned Callie, "Are you sure that trackers working?"

Marie let out a frustrated sigh, "Yes, for the tenth time yes!" growled Marie.

"Well it sure doesn't look like it is!" argued Callie, "We've been walking around aimlessly for an hour now, I'm pretty sure we've walked past that sign two times already!"

Marie bit her lip, "But that isn't possible, the only building we haven't checked is.. that.. cathedral.." Marie trailed off, her eyes widening significantly and losing her grip on the tracker after the words left her mouth.

Callie noticed the odd reaction of Marie and crossed her arms, "What now? come on, we're losing time!" said Callie as she tried to get her cousin's attention which was glued to somewhere else apparently.

"What the heck are you-" said Callie as she turned around to try and look at what her cousin was looking at but cut herself off as she saw through the window of the cathedral designed building.

Through the window of the building there she saw, was Agent 4 interlocking lips with Agent 3.

She immediately pressed her face on the window.

" _THAT THIEVING LITTLE BRAT._ " Callie screeched, then proceeding to scream more incoherent slurs afterward making the nearby passerby all stay away from her.

Meanwhile Marie was still frozen stiff, on the ground laying was the phone she was using to look at the status of the trackers completely forgotten.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 3/24/2019
> 
> Finished up with the term, should have more time to write now. This was a little too short for my liking but I wanted to end it here cause it seemed like it was appropriate.
> 
> As always review what you think about the chapter and see you in the next update.


	11. Chapter 11

Marie was livid, It was unfair, why was she the only one who hasn't had a intimate moment with Agent 3, the two had gotten ahead and snatched Agent 3 from under her. She should've acted much earlier, if she did maybe she wouldn't have to compete with the two.

So, she made a deal with Callie, they apprehend Agent 4, get Agent 3 as far away from her as possible, and they'll work out what happens next after.

She had barged in the cathedral designed building, with her hero charger out and used her low tide ink to knock out Agent 3, but the same couldn't be the same for Agent 4 as she wasn't given the luxury of getting knocked out painlessly with her ink but instead the butt of the hero charger was used to hit her head.

That felt surprisingly satisfying to Marie, but she quickly dismissed that thought and apologized to the other people that they had disturbed inside, "Sorry, we'll be taking our leave, here's payment for their clothes." she said as she dropped a couple thousand coins at the ground without a care and left the building to her's and Callie's shared apartment.

To avoid suspicion they took to using the secret passageways their grandpa had told them about, never in her life did she think this would be of any use to her since most of the battles she fought while doing missions were on octo valley and not inside inkopolis.

"Ew, Don't gramps ever clean up?" complained Callie, "and why are you the one carrying Three?"

"Cause he was the closest," answered Marie, "and this wasn't being that used that much so he probably didn't think of maintaining it properly."

Callie kept complaining while they were making their way towards the grate that was right outside their apartment building, which only made Marie irritated at her.

So after an hour of Callie's nonstop complaining they were now inside their apartment, she had dropped the unconscious Agent 3 on her bed and had asked Callie to put down Agent 4 near the closet, in which Callie complied.

"So, what are we going to do with this brat?" Callie said as she put Agent 4 down, "If we're gonna make her pay at least let me have a go at her first."

"Yes, sure, here catch." Marie nonchalantly said as she threw a rope towards Callie, who had caught the rope and inspected it with her hands.

"A rope?" asked Callie, "But we already tied her up."

"Yeah," said Marie, "It's not for her."

"What do yo-" Callie tried to say but was cut off by the sound of a loud beep which only indicated one thing, she looked up to Marie and saw her aiming her hero charger at her and preparing to fire.

"Don't worry Callie, this wont hurt." said Marie, "I think."

"You backstabbing son of a-" Callie tried to say but was cut off when Marie fired her hero charger that was loaded with her special low tide ink that she used to knock out Agent 3.

"Sorry Cal, it's just how it is." said Marie as she looked down on the now unconscious Callie.

She then looked towards Agent 3.

"Now what to do with you?" she smiled.

* * *

 

Agent 3 woke up to a start, the sound of wind blowing past the open window, letting the breeze in and the curtains fluttering because of it. He was in a room that he did not recognize, the walls were painted lime green and decorated with dark green blobs as decorations.

"Where the heck am I?" Agent 3 said groggily, he tried shaking it off but it gave him a severe headache, It was as if he was hit by a sledgehammer while he had a bucket on his head, it also didn't help that his throat and lips felt dry.

He looked to the side and saw a bedside table with a glass of water on top, he then immediately drank it to soothe his dehydration without even questioning why there was a glass of water near him after he woke up in a room that obviously wasn't his.

After he drank all the water, he set it down and took a moment to stare outside the window, enjoying the peaceful moment of silence. He's started to forget what peace and quiet feels like ever since him being somewhat popular now because of Callie and Marie.

It's time like these that remind him of the times when he could just be alone with his thoughts. He then closed his eyes and took a deep breath to enjoy the clean air and to hear the soft sounds of wind blowing inside the room.

But after a few moments of silence he heard a soft groan come from beside him, he looked to his side and saw a bump in the bed sheets, at first he thought it was just a huge pillow that was underneath the comforter but pillows don't grown and rise up and down.

He hesitantly lifted up the clean white sheets, only to immediately back away and falling out of the bed with his head hitting the floor, in his shock he had crawled back until his back hit the wall and was staring at what was lying on the bed beside him.

Marie sat up on the bed groggily while rubbing her eyes, "It's too early for you to be screaming Three..." she said with a yawn at the end.

She was currently wearing a white shirt with the middle buttoned up, and a lime green underwear. Agent 3 didn't see if she was wearing a bra or not but didn't want to know as he looked away and covered his eyes.

He could feel his cheeks heat up as blood rushed to his face. "W-What the are you doing here Marie?!" stuttered Agent 3, "Where is here anyway?!"

"I'm in my pajamas, and obviously we're in my room." Marie says matter-of-factly, as if she didn't see anything wrong with her current state of dress.

"Your pajamas?" Agent 3 felt his face heat up even more as he imagined Marie always sleeping like that always, "Wait, your room?" he said as he took the time to look around.

 _Explains the wall decorations,_  thought Agent 3.

He shook his head, "A-anyway please button up your shirt and wear some shorts or something for the love of cod!"

Marie gave him a cute pout, "Why?" asked Marie, "This is much more comfortable, and besides," she then sexily crawled up to him and went close to his face and tilted her head a little bit sideways, and whispered in his ear in a sultry tone, "Don't you think this is much better?"

His face went even redder, and if one would look on top of his head one would probably see steam coming out of it.

"H-how am I here a-anyway?" asked Agent 3 while still trying to look at the lamp that was situated at the bedside table, to the disappointment of Marie. "I was with Agent 4 last I remember."

Marie clicked her tongue, "You don't need to worry about that girl," Marie then cupped his cheeks to make him look at her, "and focus on me." she said as her face went closer and closer to Agent 3.

"But, but.." Agent 3 tried to say but was stopped by Marie's lips interlocking his in a passionate display of affection, Agent 4's kiss was sudden and was only a short peck on the lips, but Marie's was more sultry and more aggressive, he could feel her tongue licking his lips in a way of asking for permission to go inside his, and soon he relented and they were now french kissing. Agent 3 has completely fallen for Marie's rhythm, he could feel her locking her arms behind his neck and pushing his face closer to hers as if to deepen the kiss even more.

After a few moments of silence and sounds of lips sucking the two pulled apart with a trail of saliva left behind the kiss.

"That was better than I had expected." Marie said while panting, the kiss took her breath away and judging by the same way Agent 3 was breathing she guessed it was the same for him too.

She was about to lean it for another round but was stopped by muffled screaming and rattling coming from her closet, and after a few shakes the lock finally broke because of the increased strain on it and two girls fell down on the floor with the destroyed closet door.

It was Callie and Agent 4, they were tied together back to back with both of their mouths covered in duct tape. Agent 4 was glaring at Marie as if she expected her to disintegrate out of existence, Callie however was still unconscious from whatever Marie did.

Marie clicked her tongue in disapproval, "Dang it, I knew I should've put them in the other room." Marie grumbled under her breath.

Agent 4 was still glaring at Marie, "mmppf!" Agent 4 tried to say something but was muffled by the duct tape, but even with the muffled sound surprisingly Marie still understood.

"All is fair in Love and War." was Marie's reply, which only made Agent 4's stare more intense.

Agent 3 just sat there staring between Agent 4 and Marie, he noticed that Agent 4 was still wearing the shiromoku that was given to her in the photo shoot.

Agent 4 managed to somehow dislodge the duct tape enough to make it even easier to understand what she was saying.

"You cod danged bitch!" she screeched at Marie who was still looking at Agent 4 with an indifferent gaze. "I already won!"

Marie scoffed, "No you didn't."

"Yes I did!" snapped Agent 4, while shaking her body relentlessly to escape Marie's bindings, which ultimately shook Callie awake.

"Ow.. my head..." Callie said groggily, "Stop shaking your gonna make me hurl." she said as she stopped the rising bile from coming out of her mouth.

"Don't you dare!" both Agent 4 and Marie said, Agent 4 because she didn't want anything gross to spill onto her and Marie not wanting to clean up after her.

"I'll kill you for this, Marie!" Callie finally said albeit still a little dizzy, "Knocking me out while I was focused on them."

Marie gave a smug laugh, "You guys just stay there while I go for another round." she said as she turned her attention back to Agent 3.

Agent 3 was knocked out of his stupor, "W-wait! can you explain wh-" but was once again cut off by Marie's lips.

Agent 4 just gaped at the scene, and Callie shook in the while still tied up and screaming for Marie to stop and how unfair it was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, Sorry, this is a really short chapter I know, but I wanted to at least post something this week before procrastination hits me hard.
> 
> Comments and Kudos are appreciated and thank you for the support you guys have been giving me.
> 
> Until next time!


	12. Chapter 12

How could this happen? This was supposed to be her day with Agent 3, they were going to have so much fun! they we're going to learn so much about one another, how could have this have gone from going according to her plan to really messed up?

There was only one answer to that question and one of the two individuals that were the cause of the current mishap is currently tied up with her. Currently gaping in shock and shaking in anger because the other person was currently smooching her devilish lips all over Agent 3's lips.

She had enough of watching helplessly on the ground, so she had nudged Agent 4 to get her attention, Agent 4 turned to her or tried to since they were both tied up back to back.

"What is it?" hissed Agent 4, Callie then shushed her to get her to be more quiet. Callie could understand if she was angry with her, she did help in squidnapping her to be honest but she deserved it!.

"You're hands are closer to the hem of my dress, get the knife strapped to my back." whispered Callie to Agent 4.

Agent 4 looked shock at the prospect that Callie had something like that hidden but kept that thought to the back of her mind, since that was the only chance of them escaping this rope. She then tried to reach down Callie's dress and patted a couple of times getting Callie to make a small squeak.

"I said on my back not on my butt!" scolded Callie, careful of getting heard by Marie.

"Sorry!" Agent 4 apologized, but still managed to reach the item, "I got it!"

"Great! now cut off the sides, it won't take much to make it loose!" said Callie.

But as soon as Agent 4 was about to painstakingly cut off the rope, the window was shattered by something going breaking into the room, shocking the four inklings inside, as they all got a good look towards window since the sun was blocking the view, It revealed Cap'n Cuttlefish and Agent 8 seemingly ready to shoot anything that moves.

"What are you kids doing?" The Cap'n said, and then held a hand towards the person that came with him to gesture to put the gun down.

It was Marie that spoke up, "W-well you see-" she tried to say but was cut off by Callie.

"Gramps! Please help!" Callie cried out with a face that was full of tears that were almost going to drop down her cheeks, Agent 4 just looked at her with a brow raised.

_She sure is quick to change personalities,_  thought Agent 4, what happened to the serious Callie earlier?

The Cap'n took a moment to process what he was seeing and just shook his head. "Are you girls arguing again? Eight can you untie the both of them while I help Agent 3."

"Yes sir." Agent 8 said as she saluted and then walked towards Callie and Agent 4 and proceeded to cut the ropes away to free them.

And after a few moments, All the Agents were now in front of the leader of the NNS, he looked to his grandchildren and to 3 and 4 and sighed.

"This is what's goin' to happen." he then pointed his cane up to Agent 3's face, "You go with Agent 8 and sort yourself out, I'll have a talk with these lassies in the meantime."

The three girls tried to argue but was stopped by a glare from the Cap'n, he never glared at them before so he must be seriously this time he might be serious.

Agent 3 only nodded, he was still flustered by the whole ordeal with Marie, and his mind was a mess. He was then tapped on the shoulder by Agent 8 and she motioned for him to super jump outside with her through the broken window.

As he was walking towards the window with her, he sent one last look at the three girls and the Cap'n before he superjumped out with Agent 8 in tow.

"Now as for you three." The Cap'n said, "What in cod's name is happening?"

The three girls just looked at each other.

It was Agent 4 who spoke up this time, "Uh, it's a long story?"

"Try me lass." The Cap'n said in a serious tone.

* * *

Agent 3 and 8 were now on suburbs of inkopolis, Agent 3 did not have a clue why they were here, he just kind of followed Agent 8 without a word, he had first thought they were going to go straight to the cuttlefish cabin but instead she had lead him to the suburbs of inkopolis, he's been in inkopolis for 2 years now and he still haven't explored these parts of town. He was about to voice his concerns but was cut off by Agent 8.

"We've arrived." Agent 8 said, she stopped in front of a large gate, how did he not notice this while they were walking towards here?

Agent 3 stood gaping at how large the gate is, "Uh, where are we?" he could see a large mansion just across the gate, he didn't know whose it was but it sure as heck was out of his budget. "Home." was Agent 8's simple reply, as she rang the doorbell.

_Home?!,_ thought Agent 3,  _That means this is Pearl and Marina's house, its huge!_

"AYO! Who's there?!" a loud voice came out of the speaker next to the doorbell.

"It's me, can you please let us in?" said Agent 8.

"Ah, you're back! give me a second." there was a bit of shuffling in the background as if she was looking for something, "Okay found it! it's unlocked now come in!" The gate then produced a loud beep, it seemed that it was electronically locked, it was then pushed open by Agent 8.

"Come in." was all Agent 8 said, she sure wasn't that talkative, speaking of which when they were in the metro she didn't talk that much either.

As he passed the gate he noticed there was still a long trek to the mansion, it was then he noticed that Agent 8 was going in a different direction than in what he was looking at, he noticed that she was headed to the shuttle bus parked near the entrance, he wondered how rich must you be to actually have such a big front yard and a shuttle bus to use inside, he just put that thought in the back burner for now as he went ahead and took a seat next to Agent 8.

As the shuttle bus moved he turned towards Agent 8, "Hey, why'd you and the Cap'n go in guns blazing in Marie's room anyway? I mean it's not that i'm not grateful for getting me out of that situation." he said, he didn't know how he'd face the three girls the next time they had to meet, it's been such a exhilarating day.

"The Captain had called out to use using the radio my caretakers had kept." said Agent 8, talking about the radio Pearl and Marina had found to talk to both of them while in the metro. "He called for me to help him because your headphones distress signal had been activated inside the squid sister's home. We barely understood him since he talked so fast, also your headphones are still sending out the distress signal."

Agent 3 then pulled out his headphones and saw that it's lights were blinking really fast, he turned to Agent 8 with a face of apology, "Dang, I'm sorry for getting you and the Cap'n mixed up in my mess." he said.

"Do not worry, I am glad you are safe." she replied with a smile.

Agent 3 smiled back, and the rest of the ride was met with silence as they waited to reach the front door of the mansion.

* * *

"How're ya handlin' stardom Three?" Pearl asked as she was patting Agent 3 in the back she had waited for them in front of the mansion and greeted them as soon as they arrived, she obviously had seen the interview on the TV or the viral picture. While this was happening though, Agent 8 just opted to sit comfortably on the couch while watching some TV.

"Urgh, please don't remind me, I'd like it if I was just a normal squid again." answered Agent 3, he couldn't handle this, he just wanted a peaceful life with his work as an agent.

"That's not what I heard Marina say about you!" said Pearl, pointing a thumb at Marina who was now panicking and gesturing for Pearl to stop.

"What?" asked Agent 3, he then looked towards Marina who was now gesturing with her hands to say sorry and then looked back to Pearl, "What has she been saying about me?"

"Pfft, nothing much, just that you were supposed to have an 8 hour rap battle with her." said Pearl while nonchalantly checking out her fingertips.

"What?!" exclaimed Agent 3, he then turned to Marina,"Marina that was supposed to be a secret! and that was only for one time."

"Sorry!" apologized the tall octoling, "But come on Three! you've got dope skills, you were even featured in  _Haikara Walker!_  you gotta make a collab with Pearlie and I some time!" she offered.

Agent 3 just sighed he knew he should have trusted his guts and never accepted Marina's invitation, "I'll think about it, but for now can I stay over? I think the Cap'n is going to be busy and I can't really face Marie right now." Marie usually hang around the Cuttlefish Cabin during the day so he couldn't really sleep there, it was just too awkward to face her right now.

"Sure thing! pick any room from the second floor just not ours of course!" said Pearl.

"O-Oh I think I can sleep in the couch" said Agent 3, It'd be rude for him to stay over and suddenly use one of their rooms.

"Nonsense!" it was Marina who spoke up, "You're a guest! you need a bed to sleep on not this worn down couch."

_That couch looks like it costs more than my own apartment,_ thought Agent 3, thinking about his apartment that he couldn't use at the moment because of all the unwanted visitors, how his address got leaked he doesn't know, maybe he'll have to move, he has been thinking of buying better one that's near the square, but the prices there are sky high!

"W-Well if you insist." Agent 3 finally relented, he really needed to get back to his apartment, maybe he'll call the landlord and arrange things.

"In the meantime," Pearl spoke up, "How bout that rap battle? We got a studio here and everything!"

"Great idea Pearlie!" Marina cheered, "I'll go make sure everything is ready." Agent 3 tried to stop her but she was already in the middle of the stairs.

_Please kill me now,_ Agent 3 thought, he was already thinking that dealing with the girls earlier was more worth it than this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Filler chapter, I know you guys wanted something more concrete than this, but I also wanted to get something out at least this month, since I'll be pretty busy.
> 
> I had written the Captain's talk with the three girls and wanted to add them here but I thought it would be better to add that into another chapter since I got an idea that well with it. Also, expect pretty bad update rate (It's already bad I know lol) since I'm getting pretty busy in IRL.
> 
> So for now enjoy and comment out and discrepancies and spelling errors and the like.


	13. Chapter 13

"So let me get this straight," The Cap'n said as he pointed his cane at the three who were now sitting on the floor listening to the Cap'n, "You all had done this just because you lassies wanted to get with Agent 3?" That was a crude way of saying it but it was technically true.

The three nodded their heads and the Cap'n shook his head in disappointment.

"I'm disappointed with you Marie, you were supposed to be the mature one, but instead you used NSS resources to use on something as simple as this."

The Cap'n was obviously talking about how Marie had used the tracker to track Agent 3 and 4 but in Marie's case it wasn't really being used that much. "W-well yes, but!" Marie tried to reason but was cut off by the Cap'n.

"No buts! you are all adults now, and not to mention agents of the Squidbeak Splatoon." The Cap'n huffed, "You should be able to sort this stuff without any underhanded techniques. I had disturbed Agent 8 on her supposed rehabilitation into inkopolis, just because I had thought Agent 3 was in trouble."

The Cap'n sighed and sat down on Marie's bed. "Listen here, I won't be here forever telling you kids on how to live your life but you must know things like these can have other solutions than making a commotion in Wahoo World."

"Do you guys know how many favors I had to pull in just so you won't get taken by the police?" he informed them.

The three just looked down on the floor.

"W-we're sorry Cap'n." Agent 4 apologized, she's never seen the Cap'n like this before, he was usually laid back and always sleeping from the few times she had seen him in the Cabin after they've returned from the Metro.

The Cap'n nodded seemingly accepting the apology, "Well said, but it sure is a surprise for you three to have taken a liking to Agent 3, but I suppose you could have chosen worse." It's not as if he's saying Agent 3 is a bad match for his grandchildren, cods no!, Agent 3 was the sort of man he actually liked to be with his grandchildren. "But you all need to sort this out without the squidnapping and disrupting the peace thingy alright?"

"So... this means that we'll have to share Three right?" Callie suddenly spoke up from her silence, The others in the room was taken aback by what she said, "I'll be the first wife then!"

"What?!" The three blurted out.

"T-that doesn't even come close to what I said, were you even listening?" the Cap'n said, had what he said implied that? He was sure it didn't.

"You wish!" Agent 4 exclaimed, "I don't think Agent 3 likes a wife with personality disorder, and you we're all set with having Three for yourself earlier what happened to that!?"

"Exactly, That is why instead of you problematic girls, you should let me have Three instead." Marie spoke up, "You two are no match, and I'm pretty sure I'm in the lead right now." Marie said as she licked her lips and gave them both a smug smile.

This started a whole new argument of who is better for Agent 3, while this was happening the Cap'n is just sitting there frozen looking at the situation in front of him as a bead of sweat rolled own his head wondering where he went wrong in raising his two grandkids.

He put a hand on his head to ease the coming headache, "This is more problematic than I had thought." he said and internally apologizing to Agent 3 for possibly worsening the situation.

* * *

"I'll never agree to a rap battle that long again." groaned Agent 3 as he looked around the soundproof studio, a jumble of guitars and wires covered the floor, Marina fell asleep while sitting on one of the chairs and Pearl was just lying on the carpeted floor.

The supposed rap battle really turned out to be a 8 hour non-stop rap battle with no breaks thanks to Pearl and Marina, It was only stopped when Agent 3 insisted that they'll continue at another time because they needed sleep in which the duo happily accepted. They couldn't be blamed fully though, he really enjoyed it, something about making music just makes him feel at ease. An hour in towards their session he was actually enjoying making music with Pearl and Marina they had a couple of demos made in a short amount of time. Not to mention he had a lot of helpful tips from Pearl and Marina on how to improve his music.

_It wasn't so bad after all,_ he thought, he might think about going full time but that's a thought for another day, he then patted down his sweatshirt in which he changed into before he had joined the pop-star duo in the recording room, and went down to the living room to find Agent 8 sitting already in the couch, her head was bobbing up and down.

It seemed as if she was still half-asleep, Agent 3 concluded that Agent 8 was just not a morning person.

She was wearing an over sized t-shirt that was barely holding on to her shoulders and it was so big that the hem of the shirt almost reached her knees. Agent 3 didn't know if she was wearing anything under all that but he thought it would be better if he didn't know.

_Why the heck are the girls I know so defenseless?,_  thought Agent 3 as he let out a tired sigh, he then tapped her shoulder to get her attention.

"Mornin Eight." he said as he shook her awake and gave her a small smile.

"Huh?" was the groggy response, she turned to Agent 3 with half-lidded eyes and a tilted head, It took a few moments for her vision to straighten out and finally give Agent 3 a greeting back.

"Seems like you're not much of a morning person." he chuckled, Agent 3 then gave her a head pat, "I'll make you some coffee, that always helps me wake up."

"Hn." she grunted out as she fell back onto the couch.

Agent 3 chuckled again, it was kind of amusing seeing the always punctual Agent 8 acting like this. She was always the soldier type beside the Cap'n. It must've been because of her octarian upbringing, but still it's great that she's showing more and more of this side of her personality.

He brought that thought to the back of his mind and headed towards the kitchen, he was still in awe of the sheer size of each of the rooms in Pearl's mansion. Just the kitchen was as big as his apartment. he wondered if the size is because Pearl is compensating for something? his mind immediately went to Pearl's height.

He shook his head, that was a bit rude of him to think of that. He then went ahead to look in the cupboards to find something to cook for his current caretakers, just because they've been really helpful yesterday and it was kind of his way of saying thanks.

He opened the cupboards and immediately he was met with a stack of pancake mix.

"What the?" he mumbled, "Why the heck is there only pancake mix here? and why so much of it?" he then opened another cupboard that was next to the one he had already opened.

He was met with a another cupboard full of waffle mix. His eyebrow slightly rose.

"Why the heck is there so much pancake and waffle mix here?"

He sure got his work cut out for him, surely he couldn't use only these for breakfast for them, he then opened the fridge to check for anything else but was shocked to find it fulled to the brim with bottled orange juice.

_Do they even do their_  groceries?, Agent 3 thought, he guessed that being this rich you could always order your own food and not have to worry about groceries.

"I guess I'll just make some pancakes and waffles for them." mumbled Agent 3 as he got to work.

* * *

It didn't take long for them to cook, and by then Agent 8 was up and about, still groggy but aware enough that she wouldn't fall down on the floor.

"Come here Eight," as he prepared a plate for her, "Consider this thanks for saving me yesterday."

Agent 8 stretched her arms, "It was no problem for me, you had saved us before from the blender when we were in the metro."

Agent 3 chucked, "It was just a stroke of luck that I had managed to pick up a CQ-80 that was working." his voice then took a somber tone, "I'm sorry, I should've met up with you guys earlier the metro was a literal maze."

She put her hand on his shoulder and gave him a smile, "Do not worry, you still made your way towards us and still managed to save us just in time."

"But I got brainwashed too and attacked you!" exclaimed Agent 3, "I still can't believe I got caught off guard by that thing."

"It is of no bother to me, you were not yourself."

"Nothing really bothers you huh?" chuckled Agent 3, "Next time it wont happen again, I promise." he said as he gave her a bright smile.

Agent 8 replied back by giving a smile of her own, and then turning her attention to the plate of pancakes and waffles beside her and immediately devoured them.

_What a way to ruin the mood,_ he thought but Agent 3 didn't mind, he understood why Agent 8 did it. Being able to only eat protein bars and suddenly switching to actual food with actual flavor? he was sure he would've done the same.

Come to think of it she still hasn't tried one of Crusty Sean's creations, he'll be sure to take her to try some one of these days.

"More please!" Agent 8 said as she handed Agent 3 her now clean plate.

"Alright, theres more where that came from." He wasn't even joking, there was literally a cupboard full of them, he was sure Pearl and Marina wouldn't mind.

* * *

Pearl woke up to something smelling good inside the mansion, she sat up and sniffed the air for a few moments before her eyes went wide and immediately stood up and headed towards Marina who was still sleeping in her chair and shook her awake.

"five more minutes..." groaned Marina, but unfortunately for her this only prompted Pearl to shake her harder.

"Come on! I think someone's cooking downstairs and it smells really good!"

Marina finally sat up and turned to look at Pearl "Impossible Pearlie, none of us in this mansion knows how to cook, we nearly burned down the mansion when we had that Waffle vs. Pancake splatfest."

Marina wouldn't admit it to other people but she actually had poor cooking skills, the same with Pearl because Pearl was always ordering food, it was just because she was lazy and unmotivated to learn how to cook, even if it was as simple as a pancake that she loved so much. Marina just never had the time to properly learn how to cook because of being in charge of some of the stages during splatfest and with the news even though she should have.

"Hey, I know how to cook!" said Pearl as she crossed her arms and puffed her cheeks, "Everyone knows that when you set the heat up to high that you'll cook em much faster!"

Marina just gave friend a blank look.

"Yeah Pearl, no."

Pearl in response just blew her a raspberry.

Marina looked around and saw no sign of Agent 3, "Three's not here, that means he must be the one cooking." she then grimaced as she looked around the studio, "We really messed this room up."

"Who cares? We made some sick tracks we can release now!" giggled Pearl and then gave Marina a peace sign as she picked up the laptop that was laying on the desk that was containing the demos they had made with Three. "I have a feeling it's gonna be a huge hit with  _DJ SANGO_  being featured of course!" she said as she started to put the tracks into the upload box.

Marina shook her head, "Maybe if Three gives us his permission." She had taken the laptop away from Pearl "And please do be careful I don't want you destroying another laptop", she didn't know why Agent 3 was so against popularity, she just couldn't wrap her head around it what kind of squid in inkopolis wouldn't want to be famous? "For now let's go downstairs and have some breakfast yes?"

Pearl was already out the room when Marina said breakfast.

"Last one there is a nasty squid!" Pearl's voice trailed off as she ran full speed downstairs to the kitchen.

"Hey, Pearlie wait up!" Marina said, as she set the laptop down on her seat and gave chase, what she had forgotten though in her hurry was to cancel the upload that Pearl started earlier.

It was either going to be a blessing or curse for the unknowing agent that was currently downstairs who was watching Agent 8 eat like there was no tomorrow.


	14. Chapter 14

Agent 3 decided that it was too good of a day to head out and get some fresh air, and against Pearl and Marina's suggestions he had opted to go out without a disguise, he had also declined them inviting him into the limo, And what a mistake that was for the squid. As soon as he reached the square the usual crowd of inklings that were chatting and going about their day noticed him and to his surprise suddenly pointed at him and cheered so loudly he swore it could break glass.

He had run into Ammo Knights, and fortunately Sheldon had closed the store and not let any customers in for his safety and he was sure he couldn't leave without getting mobbed. He saw several inklings holding several notebooks and motioning to it as if to get an autograph. He couldn't have gained this much of a fanbase this large in such a short amount of time, did hanging out with the Squid Sisters too much affected his popularity?

No, that couldn't be it. Callie's picture was only released a week ago, and the interview was only just held two days ago. There was absolutely no way he should have gained this large of a following this fast. What he also didn't know was that he was mumbling his thoughts out loud that Sheldon had heard everything.

"I wouldn't be surprised too much, just a few days after the interview, you suddenly had made a collab with Off the Hook. So it's no wonder your popularity skyrocketed." Sheldon said nonchalantly as he was arranging a few blasters behind the counter while Agent 3 just looked at him with a flabbergasted look.

Sheldon noticed his stare, "W-Why are you looking at me like that?" stuttered Sheldon as he directed that question to Agent 3.

"What do you mean by collab?" asked Agent 3 in a voice higher than he had intended.

"W-well it's just been released on Off the Hook's website just this morning." Sheldon said as he took out his laptop and showed it to Agent 3, "It was an instant hit and the views are now in the millions!" Sheldon then heard Agent 3 letting out a sigh.

Agent 3 put his hand on his forehead to ease the coming headache, this just had to happen when it started out as such a good day too. Will he even have his quiet life back again? with his connections with the Squid Sisters and Off the Hook being revealed to the public, that possibility seemed to be going farther away from his grasp.

Agent 3 groaned, It seems like he's gotta lose any hope that this sudden popularity will blow over, he kind of knew there was no going back to his quiet and somewhat peaceful life as an anonymous agent of the NSS but he still held to that sliver of hope. Agent 3 then turned to Sheldon, "I don't suppose you have some kind of secret passageway to help me get outta here?" he asked, he sincerely hoped Sheldon had some kind of secret escape hatch in his shop but was met with a shake of Sheldon's head.

Agent 3 let out a tired sigh and proceeded to take out his phone to call for some help. He was about to call Marie but stopped himself as he remembered the events yesterday his cheeks gained a pinkish tint at the memory.

 _Yeah, It'll be too awkward for me,_ Agent 3 thought, maybe he should go ask Pearl and Marina to help? They were right across from Sheldon's store he also had some words for them too.

He tapped at their names, and heard the phone ring a couple of times before it was answered.

"AYO! Pearl speaking, Also I can see you hiding in Ammo Knights." Pearl said through the phone, he swore he could hear her giggling too.

"I'll ask what you guys did without my permission later, but please for the love of cod help me!" he exclaimed, he didn't have time to berate them.

"Sheesh, It was an accide- Hey! stop it Marina!" Pearl tried to say but was interrupted when phone was then taken away from her hands. "WE'RE SO SORRY THREE! I DIDN'T NOTICE IT WAS UPLOADED IN TIME!" came the voice of Marina who sounded like she was on the verge of crying, she also had kept apologizing profusely to the point that Agent 3 couldn't even understand a word she was saying.

"Okay, okay we'll get to that topic later, can you please help me out here? I don't want to be stuck in Sheldon's shop and listen to him ramble about weapons again." Agent 3 said earning a 'Hey!' from Sheldon.

He heard some shuffling on the other end of the call it seemed that Pearl was trying to yank her phone back from Marina and after a few grunts she managed to get it back, "Yeah we got you Three, you can hang around for the time being in our booth with us, we'll send someone to get you right now."

"Wait! why can't you just get me back in your mans-" Agent 3 tried to say but Pearl had already ended the call, he then looked towards their booth and saw Pearl talking to some jellyfish in T-shirts with the words 'security' on the back. He also saw Marina waving at him and still giving him looks of apology.

 _I got a feeling that me being in there is going to give me more trouble,_ Agent 3 thought, he was starting to think that being stuck in Sheldon's shop was a better alternative than to add more fuel to the fire by being stuck with two pop stars, Agent 3 also wondered why they couldn't have just have him taken back to the mansion.

* * *

The jellyfish security guards had literally tackled through the crowd of inklings and circled around Agent 3 so that no other inklings could get close and bother him. It was like he was a very important person from a royal family. He has got to say though, it was a very unique experience for him because usually he was the one protecting something or someone. That someone being Cap'n Cuttlefish, being as old as he is someone needs to keep an eye on the old veteran when they go on expeditions just like the one on the metro, more so now since the splatoon now has two more agents on standby.

He was then led to a small dressing room next to Pearl and Marina's studio, he did not even know there was a dressing room next to their studio where they do the news broadcasts from.

"Miss Pearl has given us clothing to give you, and told us to make you wear it before heading into the studio." One of the security jellyfish told him without adding more information. Three wondered why he needed to change clothes, his attire was appropriate enough wasn't it? granted it was just the Hero suit without the hi vis vest but it looked fresh enough.

He had intended to ask the jellyfish on the reason why he had to change but the jellyfish had already gone back outside to guard the entrance to the building to prevent other squids from breaking inside. He looked at the clothes he was given to him, it was a Navy Eminence Jacket and a pair of N-pacer Ag. It wasn't clothes he would regularly wear on a normal day it was too flashy in his opinion.

He then felt his phone vibrate, he then took out his phone and looked to see that he had received a message from Pearl saying that he absolutely had to wear the clothes, and something about him needing to be very fresh. He just skimmed through the text message not bothering to think it through.

He let out a sigh,"Is my fashion sense really that lacking?" Agent 3 said to himself as he took off his black jacket so that he could wear the clothes given to him.

* * *

He walked in the news studio of Pearl and Marina with a shamefaced look, he had looked at himself in the mirror and felt very embarrassed. He feel's like he's going to go on a fashion show with how eye catching the clothes he was wearing right now, sure he saw inklings that wore this outside but that doesn't really mean that he's comfortable with wearing these kinds of clothes.

"Haha! lookin' good there Three!" Pearl complimented Agent 3 as he went inside their little studio, "Just in time for us to do the afternoon news and the splatfest announcement!" After Pearl had said that both Marina and Agent 3 gave Pearl shocked looks.

"What?!" Agent 3 exclaimed, he then slumped onto a beanbag, "Pearl I really can't, is this the reason why you had me change clothes?" he asked only to get a peace sign and a cheeky smile from Pearl.

"Pearlie we're supposed to help Three, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't want more attention towards himself." Marina said, Agent 3 looked at her with stars in his eyes, was Marina an angel in disguise? Marina actually knew his troubles! If it wasn't for the clear glass and the inklings looking at them from the outside he would have hugged Marina right then and there.

"Well it's too late for that isn't it?" Pearl said, "You're already on the top 5 of the popularity charts, look at this!" she then took out her phone and showed Agent 3 a showbiz article with rankings of the most popular celebrities in inkopolis. It showed him being just below the Squid Sisters.

Agent 3 groaned and slouched deeper in the beanbag, he wasn't a celebrity cod damn it!

This settled it, he couldn't go back to his old quiet life now. It was good that his friends in the countryside won't know about this since news about celebrities and such don't really reach them that much, he'll never hear the end of it from them. As he thought of his friends in his hometown for some odd reason he felt as if he was missing something but put it on the back of his mind, if he forgot what it was it probably wasn't probably a big deal.

He then felt a small hand pat him in the back, "Don't worry Three, you don't even have to say anything if you want to." said Pearl as she was giving him a cheeky smile, "but you'd need to actually say hello at the start!"

Agent 3 then hummed and nodded, he could do a simple greeting but still felt that he didn't really need to be on camera in the first place, he just needed a place to hang out for a bit while waiting for the crowd of inklings outside to settle down before he could go back home.

Speaking of home, is it safe for him to go back to his apartment now? He looked outside the big window in the studio to see the crowd waving at him and cheering, he didn't want to seem rude so he gave a sheepish smile and waved back.

Yeah that was a big no.

He let out a sigh, he was sighing quite a bit now he noticed. It seemed he needed to stay with Pearl and Marina at the time being. He could go to the Cuttlefish Cabin since the manhole was just there and he could try to sneak by so he could jump in. But like he said earlier, it was too awkward to face Marie right now, and where Marie was Callie and Agent 4 was not far behind.

He then noticed that Pearl was motioning for him to get closer next to her so that they could start, and nodded as confirmation and went ahead to do so.

* * *

Marie, Callie and Agent 4 we're in the Cuttlefish Cabin watching TV to pass the time, well except for Agent 4 and Callie, they were busy doing their own things than watch TV. Agent 4 was lying on her back just staring at the ceiling seemingly bored, while Callie was busy on her phone just scrolling down hoping something will catch her attention, the Cap'n was with them too but opted to just sleep in his chair outside.

When it was time for the afternoon scheduled news, both of them still didn't pay attention, the only one who was watching was Marie, but when Marie noticed who was with Pearl and Marina she couldn't stop herself from gasping.

"Three?!" Marie exclaimed as she went closer to the TV to inspect if it was really Agent 3, this in turn got the attention of Callie and Agent 4, who had followed suit and also went closer to the TV.

Callie let out a huff, "This isn't fair! when I invited him for our news routine long ago he declined and now he's hanging out with those  _girls_?" she was glaring at the squid and octoling duo in the TV.

Agent 4 just kept looking at the TV with a big smile on her face and even went to cheer for Agent 3 for being on TV, when she was invited to the interview she was ecstatic that she'll be on TV. In short she was happy for him.

Marie however had a look of contemplation on her face and after a few moments smiled, Callie had noticed her cousin's lack of reaction and turned to look at Marie only to see her smiling. She knew right then and there that Marie had a plan of sorts on her mind. "I know that look on your face Marie, share it with us." Callie said, also catching the attention of Agent 4.

Marie gave them a smile, "Oh you know... some stuff." was all she said.

Agent 4 took this time to speak up, "You guys know that the Cap'n said not to trouble Three or any inklings." she didn't want the Cap'n getting mad at them again he had a mean glare.

Marie let out a chuckle, "It wont, I just need both of your help on this." she then motioned for them to get closer so she could whisper so that the Cap'n wouldn't wake up or hear anything. In her experience, even though her grandpa was 'sleeping' she knew that he would only sometimes feign being the sleepy old fart that he was, nothing would get past him. Why do you think he's always the first one to know if something bad's going to happen?

It was time for them to work together.

* * *

Agent 3 shivered and looked behind him as an immediate reaction, this in turn had interrupted Pearl and Marina while they were announcing today's sponsors.

"What's up Three?" Pearl asked him, for the whole time Agent 3 had been sitting there without a word occasionally giving his opinion here and there about the stages.

"I don't know but I feel like something bad will happen." he answered, he really didn't know but he just had this gut feeling that something was going to happen and he will not like it. "Maybe it's just your imagination, don't worry about it Three." Marina said while giving him a smile, he liked Marina, she is always so positive.

 _I sure hope_  so, he thought, but couldn't dismiss the possibility, he learned to not expect for a good outcome if the past few weeks were an example.

He just wished it blows over quickly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 4/27/2019
> 
> Just me setting up for the next chapter, which I'll probably be uploading sometime on the second week of May but no promises. I'll be getting pretty busy again.
> 
> Anyways, thanks for all the reviews and comments I really appreciate it.
> 
> Until next time!


	15. Chapter 15

It was almost evening when Pearl and Marina decided to head back into the mansion, which Agent 3 was grateful for, since he was getting constantly asked by Pearl to do more collabs with them. While he did enjoy making songs, he didn't really do it for popularity or anything. It was just a hobby for him since he didn't have much to do other than turf wars or doing some patrols in octo canyon.

But he guessed It wouldn't hurt making songs with them again, he just needed to make them promise to ask him first before posting something on their website.

He looked at his phone to check if he had any unread messages since he didn't really have time to check earlier since they we're busy with the news and his attention was always taken away by Pearl or Marina. He was surprised to see that he had missed calls from Marie, he was unsure if he should call back, It was really awkward for him to see or talk to her right now.

He didn't have time to think it over because Pearl walked up behind him and slapped him in the back.

"Hey!" Pearl chuckled, "What're you doing lookin' all thoughtful at your phone for?" she asked while having this smug grin on her face with Marina in tow just right behind her.

"Nothing in particular, just some personal stuff." he answered vaguely, Agent 3 didn't want them worrying about something that did not affect them in any way, it was better for everyone that he dealt with this on his own however embarrassing it may be.

"Right." Pearl accepted that answer since nobody liked nosy squids, "Anyway, you did good back in the studio!" she said as she gave him a toothy smile. Agent 3 however was confused by that, the only he had ever did inside was wave at the squids outside and made small talk with the squid and octoling duo.

"I don't remember doing anything noteworthy." he said as he tried to think back on what she might be on about.

"I meant the all mysterious act back in the show and interacting with your fans outside!" said Pearl, "You being there actually spiked up the viewer ratings quite a bit so you might have an even bigger fanbase now, lookie here!" she then pulled out her phone and showed him the comments of the other squids in other online forums and pages.

What he was seeing was really not good, was he actually not intentionally giving off that mysterious vibe inside there? did actually trying not to act normal just blow up back into his face?

 _Crud,_  he thought to himself, he's not made to be a celebrity cod dang it.

"There really is no going back to normalcy is there?" he mumbled to himself but said it loud enough that Pearl was able to understand.

"Nope, welcome to the life of a star Three!" Pearl exclaimed, she was oddly too happy with this predicament, "Also, our manager contacted us, and gave us the go ahead to invite you to the news whenever we want isn't that great Three!?"

He looked behind Pearl and at Marina who only gave him an apologetic look, It seemed she was genuinely sorry about all this, Agent 3 didn't really blame her to be completely honest. He was already losing any hope that this whole fiasco will blow over since inklings don't really pay attention to one thing that long.

He let out a sigh.

He thought about his current living conditions. He would need to leave his apartment and move somewhere else that provided enough security so that no media outlets can just bust their way in through the lobby. But with his current financial state right now because he didn't have time to do some turf wars so he could earn some money, he doubt that he could afford one that provides that extra security.

He then returned his attention to the two in front of him and put two fingers on the bridge of his nose so he could somewhat ease the coming headache.

"Just.. please inform me ahead of time whenever you do invite me, I doubt I'll be able to go back to my old life now anyway." he said to them.

"Haha! That's the spirit!" cheered Pearl, she really was too happy with this predicament, "It'll be nice to finally have a rap buddy besides the old man!" she then turned and pointed to the parked limo in the parking lot provided just behind the studio building.

He was grateful for that since that gave them a bit of a period of rest without the screams and cheers of the other inklings.

"Great, let's go back to your home Pearl, also I might need a place to stay for a couple of days until I can find a new place." he said.

"You could always crash with us and Eight." offered Pearl suddenly, "I don't know about them but I don't mind!"

This surprised Three and seeing from the widened eyes of Marina this is also the first time she had heard about the idea.

"I... I'll think about it." was the only thing he said before the three of them made their way to the limo and headed back to the mansion.

* * *

As they got to the Mansion, he was surprised to see that Marie and Callie with Agent 4 sitting on the couch in the living room, with Agent 8 still watching the TV. Callie was the first to greet them with her running to Agent 3 and hugging him as tightly as she could. Agent 4 and Marie however just gave a normal wave, with Marie giving him a look at a sickeningly sweet smile.

Agent 3 felt a shiver run down his back when he saw Marie's smile, he really didn't know but something in his gut is telling him that she's planning something. He just couldn't figure out what. But before he could even think about it long enough to get an idea his attention was taken away by Callie who was surprisingly now in front of Pearl with a huge wrapped up box.

"Hey Pearl! Eight didn't know how to receive packages so we took care of that for you!" said Callie as she showed Pearl a pretty big box but not big enough that a squid can't carry it, "By the way, what's a Bad Kraken anyway?" Callie asked as she was reading something stuck on the side of the box. As soon as Callie asked that question, he saw Pearl's face going all red and he thought at that moment that she would faint, but fortunately she didn't because she gave him an embarrassed look which by the way he still was confused on why she was embarrassed and swiftly took the box away from Callie and ran upstairs to her room.

He gave a confused look towards Marina for answers who only just shrugged and adopted a look on her face that was obviously saying that she also doesn't know what had happened.

"What it something I said?" asked an also confused Callie.

Agent 3 didn't know how to answer that other than with a simple, "I don't know." he just put it on the back of his mind since he didn't think it was anything important. But he sure as hell thought it was cute how Pearl was so embarrassed by it. He shook his head, he was sure Pearl was going to punch him if he actually said that out loud.

Actually he just thought of something, he was the only male in their group of friends. It's not that it's a bad thing, don't get him wrong but there are days where being the only guy in the splatoon apart from the Cap'n kind of uncomfortable.

This doesn't add to the fact that all of the girls around him act pretty defenseless even though they know he is here. For example, Agent 4 is wearing a blue sweatshirt that was one or two sizes too big for her, so big in fact that the end of the sweatshirt almost reached her knees. He doesn't even know if she was wearing something under that and since he was a little bit taller than her, he could see what she was wearing underneath the loose fitting sweatshirt. He's not a pervert he swears on his life. While Agent 8 was wearing an Octoking HK Jersey, and Pearl and Marie in their normal undercover clothes minus the masks.

Before he could continue his thoughts Marie had taken this time to speak up, "Anyway, Pearl's antics aside, we came here to talk to you Three." she said as she pointed a finger to Agent 3, he also noticed Callie and Agent 4 had come closer behind Marie.

"Oh!" Marina suddenly voiced out, "I can see that this is supposed to be private, I'll be accompanying Eight on the couch then." she said as she made her way to sit next to Eight who acknowledged her with a nod then returned her eyes glued to the TV screen. She sure is enjoying watching that infomercial.

"Uh... how about we take this talk to the next room so we don't bother them?" asked Agent 3, he knows something will happen and he doesn't want Marina or Agent 8 being caught in this shenanigans.

After he had offered the idea up, he saw a slight hint of a smile on Marie's face but she had quickly covered it up with her hand, she must have thought he hadn't noticed but he would be putting all the training the Cap'n had given him if he had missed such a detail since out in the field every detail he could notice is essential to the completion of the mission.

"Hm," hummed Marie as she looked around the room they were currently in and even giving a glance at the two octoling that were occupying themselves with the TV, "Nah, I think they wont mind if we talked here, isn't that right you two?" Marie asked the two octolings, with Agent 8 giving a slight nod and with Marina giving a smile and a thumbs up.

Agent 3 winced at that, he'd rather keep this coming talk in private since he had an idea on what it is about, sure he can insist on it but something on the look Callie was giving him right now told him to just keep quiet on this one.

Marie then continued on, "We know about your situation about your apartment and us being the wonderful  _friends_ that we are told them that you are now living with us three in our brand new penthouse!" she then gave him a brochure of the said penthouse, and behind her was Callie giving him the biggest smile and Agent 4 giving him a nervous one.

"You what?!" exclaimed Agent 3, okay they weren't going to talk about what he thought they were going to talk about, but this wasn't much better, "First of all, why?! and second I can't do that!" he said.

This earned a him some looks from the three girls and Marie was about to question why he couldn't but Callie beat them to the punch.

"And why not Three?" asked Callie, giving him a cute pout, they had to do some persuading for them to get his stuff moved. Not like they had to move anything other than some gear he had for turf wars and some change of clothes. Agent 3 didn't really buy anything that he didn't need.

Agent 3 was about to reason out why he couldn't live with them but before he could say anything he was cut off by the unmistakably voice of Pearl who was now going down the stairs. Apparently she had finished doing whatever she was doing with the box that she took up to her room.

"Because Three here's going to be staying with us and helping us with some new songs!" Pearl said to them as she went beside Agent 3 and patted his back, "Isn't that right Three?"

"I am?" asked Agent 3, but he was then elbowed in his side by Pearl which in turn made him lean down just enough for Pearl to whisper in his ear. "Play along." she whispered.

"I am! Y-yes, thats the reason haha!" Agent 3 quickly added as he rubbed his side, seriously for such a little squid Pearl certainly packed a punch or elbow. Marie and Callie furrowed their brows on Pearl's words while Agent 4 just looked at him with a disappointed look.

But as always Callie was the first to voice her disapproval.

"That's not fair Three! you barely know them while you've known us for far longer and now you're making songs with them?" said Callie, she then pointed at Marina who was now looking at them from the couch, "It's her breasts isn't it Three?" scowled Callie, this in turn turned Marina into a blushing mess and went to bury herself in the couch, or at least tried to.

Pearl gave Agent 3 a glare with a small tint of red adorning her cheeks, "No no! It's not true!" exclaimed Agent 3, Pearl then looked down on her body and glanced at Marina then turned her attention back to Agent 3 who was looking at her with a look of pity.

"Don't give me that look Three!" she snapped and gave Agent 3 another hit to the sides with her elbow.

"I know that mine aren't as big as hers but they've got a nice fe-" Callie rambled on but was stopped by a slightly blushing Agent 4 who covered her mouth and is dragging her to the couch to get her to apologize to Marina, it seemed that she had enough of hearing what was coming out of Callie's mouth.

Marie turned to them looking embarrassed by her cousins antics.

"Maybe we should continue this in the other room."


	16. Chapter 16

"What a way to end the day."

Agent 3 mumbled to himself as he went inside his temporary room in Pearl's mansion, the three girls insisted on him staying with them, more so the two cousins. Agent 4 just went along with the flow but did not push any further and was just there for damage control when things got a little heated, It also didn't help that Pearl also added to the chaos by arguing with Marie.

Both of them didn't really see eye to eye on things, Pearl had stayed absolute in her decision that Agent 3 was going to stay with them which prompted the two cousins to become frustrated at her. He thought that he would have to fight between them. He was really thankful when Agent 4 was there to help diffuse the situation and had gotten the squid sisters to back off.

"I don't know what I'll do without her." he thought out loud as he was changing into his pajamas,with all the craziness going on right now, it was comforting to know at least one of the girls can get things done through reason. He's not saying that Marie or Callie can't do the same, but they can go really overboard for a lack of a better word.

Marina was also a big help in keeping Pearl in check, apparently Pearl has a track record of getting out of control. She had apparently once punched an interviewer for being too pushy and annoying.

"It's a good thing that Pearl didn't do that earlier though that would have been a sight to see!" Agent 3 chuckled, for someone as small as Pearl he was curious on how such cute and short squid could do that, but she did have this intimidating aura around her, though he rarely sees it when she's around him and the others.

After he had managed to convince the two cousins they they didn't need to let him stay with them because he was already going to stay with Pearl, they had agreed to drop it. But by the look on the two cousin's faces he knew that they wouldn't give it up that easily and just when they were going to say anything else, Agent 4 had stopped them and urged them to just come back tomorrow.

He let out a chuckle, he liked their stubbornness. It reminds him of his sister back home, always would go down without a fight, but enough of that, for now he needed to rest. He then lied down on his bed and his thoughts went towards Agent 4, keeping the two cousins in check must be hard on her.

"I hope Agent 4 is okay." he mumbled out, and he closed his eyes and a moment of silence passed, but then he heard a sudden voice next to him.

"I'm sure she's doing just fine."

"GAH!" Agent 4 jumped right out of bed to look at the assailant, letting his pajamas out in full view that consisted of a black sweater and his boxers which was patterned with red squids, he got a better look at who was inside his room and saw that it was Callie, still dressed in her pink sweatshirt with her tentacles not tied up, he knew because Callie's tentacles were longer than a normal squid's tentacle when she doesn't have it tied up.

But that really didn't answer the main question.

"W-what are you doing here!?" stammered Agent 3 as he tried to calm down his beating heart, that scared him so much that he almost turned to ink for a second.

"Well... I just couldn't let you stay here all alone now can I?" Callie said as she was breathing pretty heavily, "and now we're all alone now Three!" Callie had pounced him and rested her face on his chest and seemingly took a deep breath.

"And since we're all alone let's do something fun!" she said as her face went closer and closer to Three's face.

But was stopped by something hitting her in the head.

"Owie!" Callie let out.

"Hold it right there!" It was Agent 4 who comically had a smoking fist from hitting Callie in the head.

"What the?!" Agent 3 exclaimed, so many things was happening, like for example how they got in here without him noticing.

He then heard a couple of hurried footsteps outside as his door opened revealing Pearl with Marina right behind her, both were in there pajamas so one could speculate that they were about to sleep but heard his screaming so they came running to check on him. He was internally apologetic and at the same time so thankful that they were here.

"Are you okay Thr- huh?" Pearl said but cut herself off as she noticed Callie and Agent 4, "What the heck?"

* * *

"So let me get this straight, you guys trespassed into my home just so you can be with Three?" Pearl asked irritated at the two squids who were sitting in front of her, "Also how the heck did you even get pass my security system?"

Callie had turned to her with a smug smile, "Pfft, you call that a security system? It was child's pl-OW!" Callie tried to say but was again hit in the head by Pearl, "Why'd you do that?!"

"I didn't want you answering." huffed Pearl as she crossed her arms.

"Then why did you ask?!" exclaimed Callie as she was rubbing her head, Marina was there patting it being the gentle octoling that she was and Agent 4 was just laughing at her misfortune.

Agent 3 took this opportunity to stop Pearl from hurting Callie more and got in between them.

"Hey now, no need to get all violent." he said as he gave Pearl a smile, which fortunately settled her down a bit, "Also you didn't answer why you were here Four."

Agent 4 was startled by the question but never the less answered, "W-well, after we had parted ways I was going to go home but Marie had sent me a text and told me that Callie had gone to buy something and she ordered me to follow her you see." she said as she laughed nervously, she then noticed that they were waiting for her to continue, "And soon after I followed her back here and saw her sneaking inside."

Pearl let out a grumble, "Then why the heck didn't you just go ring the doorbell or called Three here to let us know?" she asked, it seemed she was getting close to the end of her patience.

"W-well... I don't know?" Agent 4 told them.

"I'll make you know!" Pearl said as she rolled up her left sleeve and went closer to Agent 4, but was blocked by Agent 3.

"Hey now, Please calm down Pearl." appealed Agent 3, as he held on to her shoulders and looked at her in the eyes to stop her. He really didn't expect for someone like Pearl to listen to him but imagine his surprise when Pearl just looked away quickly and quickly shrugged his hands off her shoulders, it was just for a split second but he swore her cheeks got a slight tint of pink to it after that.

But he just chucked it out of his mind, something like Pearl blushing was impossible. He felt a hand hold on to his sweater and looked to the side to find Agent 4 hiding behind him.

He turned his attention back to Pearl and Marina, "I'm pretty sure Agent 4 just didn't want to disturb you all and wanted to bring her back on her own is all." defended Agent 3, "Isn't that right Four?" he asked her for confirmation.

"Y-Yeah!" she said as she gave Agent 3 a quick nod.

It was this time that Marina spoke up, "Well whatever the reason is it's too late for you guys to go home alone now." she said, "So why don't you guys just go home tomorrow and sleep here?" suggested Marina.

This prompted a quick refusal from Pearl.

"What?!" she exclaimed, "It's only 7 PM and there is no way I'm letting this idiot go near- I mean sleep here!" she pointed to Callie who was still on the ground rubbing her head.

"Come on Pearl, Marina's right it's late." Agent 3 said, "I'm sure they wont cause anymore trouble, and you have spare rooms." With both Marina and Agent 3 insisting that the two stay Pearl couldn't really resist anymore.

"Ugh, Fine!" relented Pearl, "But us girls are all going to sleep in the same room."

"Oh! girls only sleepover?!" exclaimed Marina, Agent 3 noticed that her eyes looked like they had big stars when Pearl said they'd be sleeping in the same room.

"Well I'll still be in the next room so.." said Agent 3, but was cut off by Marina.

"I'll get things ready!" Marina said as she skipped out of the room, presumably to get spare blankets or something.

When Marina had left the room and was out of earshot Callie spoke up, "Why the heck do I have to share a room with someone as violent as you two?" she said as she pointed to Pearl and Agent 4.

Callie then proceeded to jump on Agent 3 again, "I'd rather sleep next to you Three!" she exclaimed.

Agent 3 blushed red at that, "I-I'm not sure if that's a good idea Callie." he said to her.

"That wasn't a no!" Callie seemed to be insistent on this, Agent 3 doesn't know if he'll ever get used to this side of Callie, or any of the two girls he has currently kissed. The thought of him having kissed them just made him blush even more, but he has to warn Callie of the two behind her who was emitting very intimidating auras.

"No, Callie look behind you." he told her.

"Huh?" she turned around to see Pearl and Agent 4 glaring daggers at her. Two fists then came down on top of her head as she did so, Agent 3 had to admit he kind of expected this kind of violent reaction from Pearl but not from Agent 4, he guessed that there are some qualities that you can still know about someone even if you already knew them for months.

The attack seemed to knock her out cold, and judging from the huge bump that just formed on her head it was also very painful.

"Hey Four! I think we'll be great friends from here on out!" Pearl said to Agent 4, "Now drag that weirdo out to our room, I'll show you the way."

"Okay." Agent 4 said, and then she turned towards Agent 3, "I'm really sorry that this happened."

"Don't worry about it, I guess it was kind of fun?" Agent 3 chuckled, he then noticed Agent 4 was nervous about something, "Hm? something wrong Four?"

"N-no, It's just that, If... If given the chance would.. would you like to sleep next to me?" Agent 4 said hesitantly.

Agent 3 blushed hard at this. "I-I'm sorry what?" he asked her, he thought that he might have heard wrong or something, but before Agent 4 could answer he had heard Pearl call out to her.

"Hey Four come on! Eight's also joining us!" they heard Pearl shout out.

"F-forget I said anything!" Agent quickly said and dragged Callie out of his room.

Agent 3 couldn't say anything since she had fled so fast, He then let out a breath that he didn't know that he was holding. Now really that was something Agent 3 did not expect for Agent 4 to say.

* * *

Back at the Squid Sister's newly acquired penthouse, Marie who had her phone out pressed a button and a few rings were heard before someone picked up.

"You're both there right?" Marie said to the phone microphone.

A moment passed before a reply was heard over the phone.

"Yeah, but I don't like this Marie, why do we even need to be all secret about this?" asked a very nervous Agent 4 who was currently in the bathroom after giving an excuse that she had to use it. "I mean Marina was really friendly and we didn't really need to convince her to let us sleep in here."

It was a bit of an oversight of Marie, she had thought that the two will completely disagree with them staying over, she knows that Pearl that will be completely opposed to it and assumed that Marina will just be following her suit.

Well Pearl was opposed to it just as expected but she didn't expect Marina would be so accepting of it.

"I guess... tell them that one more will be joining tonight."

"W-wait! how do I expl-" Agent 4 tried to ask but the call was ended before she was able to complete the question.

Marie let out a sigh.

"I guess I gotta pack some sleepwear."

* * *

"What do you mean Marie's coming over? I've got enough trouble with one squid sister here!" Pearl exclaimed as she pointed to the still out cold Callie who was wrapped in blankets and tied up like a paper roll.

"Well you see.." Agent 4 tried to come up with an explanation with no luck.

The commotion was heard throughout the mansion, and with Agent 3 just being next to the room they were currently in, he could hear Pearl's muffled shouts from his room.

"Hm.. they sure are lively." he said as he went back to reading a book about chargers and their effectiveness in the battlefield.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 7/13/2019
> 
> Dang, I had intended for this to be up on my birthday on July 7, but instead I had it delayed because our exams got moved up a week. So sorry, anyway here's the chapter, tell me what you think by leaving a review!
> 
> Also, thank you very much for the overwhelming support for this story! It really is heartwarming to see all your reviews and comments (for the wattpad readers.).
> 
> Until next time! (which hopefully doesn't take too long - )
> 
> EDIT: 8/1/2019
> 
> Decided to update Ao3 side, gonna be a little late on the next update since I'm working on a oneshot.

Agent 3 tossed and turned in his bed, he can hear the girls some times when they screamed, at one point he even heard his name being said out loud. Of course he really couldn't hear any of their conversation unless they screamed hard enough, which surprisingly the girls have been doing so much this night. A part of him wanted to just sleep and deal with it tomorrow morning, the other half was kind of curious.

Why in the hell would they be talking about him? What prompted his name out in their conversation? Why did Pearl shout it out? And he also felt kind of bad for Agent 8, It seemed that she was already asleep when Marina had woken her up to go have that 'girls sleepover' thing.

These were also questions that he wanted answers to, he could guess why they were talking about him, Marie and Agent 4 was there along with Callie, and lately the stories all revolved around them these past few weeks. So of course his name was going to go up somewhere in there.

It's already 12 AM and he can still hear snippets of his name coming up here and there. But would he go there and ask?

Big no.

He was pretty sure Callie was up, and to add fuel to the fire Marie was also there, he was sure he'd just ruin their supposed sleepover by dropping over just because he was curious about something.

Every time something involved him and the two cousins always resulted in headaches in the past few weeks now.

"Urgh.." he groaned as he got up from his bed and went downstairs to the outdoor pool and sat on one of the benches outside, he wasn't going to get sleep anytime soon so he figured some air outside will get his thoughts away from it. He was careful of letting out any noise as he was going downstairs. he cannot let them know that he was still awake.

He looked up and admired the stars that littered the night sky and took a deep breath and let out a content sigh. Lately it's been one situation after another and he was barely getting some peace and quiet.

So times like these are really missed by him.

"This is pretty relaxing." he said out loud without him knowing, he was so lost in his thoughts that he hasn't noticed someone walking up to him.

"It sure is huh?"

He looked to his side and saw Marina walking towards him, wasn't she supposed to be upstairs with the others?

"Marina!" Agent 3 blurted out, he didn't even notice her, "What are you doing here?" he asked her.

"I needed a break from them for a bit and went to get a drink." she answered, "Can I sit next to you?" she asked him.

"Sure, it's your home anyway." Agent 3 said as he slid to the side to give her some room to sit on.

"Hehe." Marina giggled, "No I just hang around here, I've got an apartment downtown." she said as she sat down, "Though I rarely use it since we do almost all of our recordings here or in our studio in the square." she added.

"What about you? what're you doing up so late?" Marina asked Agent 3.

"You know, just couldn't sleep." he answered with a chuckle, he didn't add that he could hear them talking about him and couldn't get any sleep because of curiosity, it would make him look weird.

Marina sent him a contemplating look, and hummed to herself.

"Is that so?" she said as she gave him a scrutinizing look and got closer to his face and looked him straight in the eyes.

"Y-yeah, why're you looking at me like that?" Agent 3 stammered, he wasn't going to get used to them getting close to him like this.

"Hmm, no particular reason." she said as she retracted her face back and looked up to the night sky, Agent 3 thought that was the end of it and returned back to watching the stars but then he heard Marina speak again.

"It must be nice having the attention of four girls at once huh?" Marina said nonchalantly, "Are you doing this by accident, or are you actually really a womanizer?" she smirked, she obviously was just teasing him but he didn't know that.

"W-w-w-what?!" Agent 3 stammered once again, he looked at her as if she had grown a second head, "I'm not, I swear!" he exclaimed.

She met his gaze and smiled at him.

"You even got Pearlie going after your attention, I must say that is a feat of its own." she informed him.

"Pearl?" he asked, Pearl going after his attention? What did that mean? all sorts of questions popped up in his mind. Is that why Pearl was so insistent of him being a guest and possibly a permanent position in the news? When did this start?

Marina giggled at his confused expression.

"Listen up." she said to him to get his attention, "You better treat her well okay? Or else you'll receive octarian punishment."

He swore her face turned really dark for a second there, and he couldn't give let out a reply other than a single nod.

"Good!" Marina beamed, "Besides, I can kind of see why they'd fall for you in the first place." she mumbled out.

"What?"

"Nothing." she replied swiftly as she giggled.

After that exchange, Agent 3 told himself, that he was never going to understand what goes on in a girls mind. Or rather it was too much of an hassle to understand what the reasoning on what they do.

"Well I'll let you enjoy your alone time," Marina told him as she stood up, "Who knows what they're doing right now." she hoped that there was still order inside the room when she got back.

He watched her enter the house with an even more tired look, and let out a sigh.

 _Well that's one more thing stuck in my head for tonight,_  he thought to himself as he let out a nervous chuckle.

* * *

**Anonymity**

* * *

When Marina got to the top of the stairs, she was met by a scrutinizing glare from Pearl.

"What'd you do all alone with Three?" Pearl all but growled out to Marina, it seems like she was misunderstanding something. Marina was used to this though, Pearl wasn't one to use logic to situations like this, it was either she punches them first and gets answers later or just beat em up and don't get answers later.

"Don't you worry about that Pearl." Marina reassured her, "I'm not making any moves towards him."

Marina then gave Pearl a smile, It wasn't the normal smile that Marina always has, but Pearl had seen this a couple of times during her friendship with Marina, and she couldn't help but let out a bead of sweat appeared on her forehead.

"But I'm not sure other people wont too." said Marina as she gave Pearl a smirk.

Pearl's cheeks went slightly pink at what Marina said, "I-it's not like I'm interested in him or anything, I was just curious." Marina giggled at this, Pearl was so cute when she was embarrassed. Pearl then walked back to her room on where the sleepover was taking place only to find that it was empty.

Pearl then let out a groan, there was only one place they would go.

She had then quickly walked towards Three's temporary room followed by Marina at her back and opened it to find Agent 8 rolled up in Three's bed sleeping, the Squid Sisters arguing about something and Four just watching them from the sidelines with a bead of sweat dropping down her head.

She honestly didn't know how Four could stand the cousin's antics, I guess if you work with someone for so long you kind of get used to it, Eight was just probably dragged around by them, Eight was already sleepy from earlier anyway.

"What the heck are you guys doing?" Pearl asked the three girls, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what the three were doing, especially the two squid sisters. She could already speculate what the two cousins were planning right from the start.

But she didn't expect for them to act on it just because she left the room for just a moment, but the words the will come out of Marina's mouth will shock her even more.

"Well, since it has come to this why don't we just have the sleepover in here? " Marina said from behind Pearl, "I'm sure Three won't mind sleeping with us."

Pearl's head turned quickly towards Marina that it made her a little bit dizzy.

"Heck no! That's a ba-" Pearl tried to say but was cut off by Marie.

"That's a wonderful idea." Marie said in a voice just enough to power over Pearl.

Pearl didn't like getting interrupted.

"Shut up you old hag!" Pearl spat at Marie, it seems that her patience was running thin.

Marie furrowed her brows at Pearl,"Excuse me?" Marie said, "I don't want to hear that from someone who's older than me, you midget." she rebuked.

"Why you!" Pearl hissed out, "You wanna fight?"

"Oh please, you wont even last a second." Marie sneered.

Before things could get more out of control Marina and Four took this as a sign to calm the two down for now, it would be bad if something happened and they got into a fist fight or something of the sort.

"C'mon you two," Agent 4 said while holding Marie back, "This really isn't the time or the place for this."

"Four is right, you're even bothering Eight over there." Marina said as she looked towards Eight who was still miraculously asleep after that shouting match from Pearl and Marie.

"Okay.. maybe not.." Marina mumbled to herself, then she turned to Four, "Say something to them!" she told Four.

"I don't think if you've noticed but I barely get Callie to listen to me what makes you think Marie will?" Four said to Marina with a blank stare, It was too late in the night to be dealing with this.

Marina let out a sigh and had a defeated look on her face, but it was true, she had trouble getting Pearl to listen to her too.

And as if things couldn't get any worse Pearl had managed to slip by Marina's grasp to latch on Marie's tentacles and started pulling as if she was going to tear it out, and in return Marie tried to push her away and eventually fell down into the carpeted ground with Pearl still latched on her.

"Get the shell away from me you idiot!" Marie shouted at Pearl while grabbing at her tank top and trying to push her away.

"Haha! I thought you were an Agent?" Pearl with a smile then proceeded to pull harder, "You're goin' to have to do better than that!"

Marina and Agent 4 tried to separate the two but the two squids that was currently fighting right now did not give them a chance to pull them away, and any effort in doing so was probably going to end up in them getting punched or elbowed.

"No! Pearl stop!"

"C'mon Marie! think this through!"

Both cries were unfortunately not helpful in any way.

* * *

**Anonymity**

* * *

Agent 3 let out a yawn while he was still sitting enjoying on what he guessed the last quiet moment he will have for at least couple of days. Come on, give the squid a break, non-stop situations one after another has taken it's toll on him mentally.

Times like these where he could think and reflect on the day is something he feels that he won't be getting now and the future. Not with the paparazzi still digging about him here and there, and with the crazy things happening these last few weeks.

He still couldn't believe that the Squid Sisters, Agent 4 and now that he most recently knew because of Marina, Pearl, actually had feelings for him.

_Him!_

Of all people he would have expected them to have feelings for, himself was not on the top of that list. And worst of all, he hasn't got any clue on how to respond, he remembered that Agent 4 had told him this when she kissed him, the very though of it still makes him blush a little bit if he was honest.

And he still doesn't remember what happened next, and how he got to the squid sister's apartment. He guessed that unless Marie or Callie tells him, then he'll forever have that memory lost.

But enough of that unnecessary stuff.

What matters right now is how to deal with actually responding to their feelings, but at the same time he doesn't want the others to get hurt and he also couldn't just wait it out hoping that none of them will bring it up, he knows it will eventually come up one way or another.

There's also the problem that he is still in the sights of the paparazzi and social media, and if he suddenly came out that he was dating any of the girls he could already see the headlines regarding that thought.

He doesn't want any more attention to him dang it!

He then decided that it was time to go back to bed and think about this at a later time so he then stood up from the bench he was sitting on walked inside and locked the window door before heading upstairs to his room.

As he was passing by the girl's room he noticed the absence of chatter and noise inside, he had initially thought it was because they had gone to sleep but that thought was thrown out the window as he heard screaming and grunts from his room.

The screaming sounded like Callie, and from the grunts he heard they might be fighting someone or something.

This sent his mind into Agent mode.

Was this an enemy attack? A burglar? had some unsavory squids come and broke in while he was enjoying his time outside? Or maybe it was Callie's brainwashing acting up again?

No, Marina said that the brainwashing was all gone, and he would have noticed if people had broke in, and Pearl's security system according to her was top notch.

But then again Callie had managed to break in to his room before.

Argh! this wasn't the time to waste time thinking, the girls might be in trouble! so he took the closest thing to a weapon he could get, a small plastic dustpan.

Cod he wished he had his gear right now.

He then readied himself to charge in the room and with a countdown to three he charged in.

What a mistake that was.

When he finally managed to get a good look around the room it was like time stopped for all of them and all he saw was Callie cheering for Marie, who was currently on top of Pearl with disheveled clothes same as Pearl, he could see both their underwear because their clothes had either been ripped or was already at the verge of getting taken off.

He could also see Marina and Agent 4 in the pile, he could guess that they tried to stop whatever the two were doing but eventually got swept in. His eyes roamed around the disheveled look the girls are in. surprisingly, Agent 8 was asleep through this whole mess and was now resting peacefully on his bed.

His mind went into overdrive and he couldn't think of a logical explanation on why the girls were on top of each other or why their clothes weren't properly on, So he did the only thing he could think of.

He apologized.

"I-I'm sorry for interrupting," he apologized with a bow, "I'll go sleep in the couch downstairs, enjoy yourselves." he said to them as he closed the door.

He was a few steps away from the door when he heard it slam open, and he looked behind him to see them with panicked expressions on their faces.

"I-IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK!" the girls shouted.

And there goes his relaxing night.


	18. Chapter 18

**I do not own Splatoon or it's sequel**   **Splatoon 2.**

* * *

**Chapter 18**

* * *

Pearl was pacing around the mansion's living room, after what happened last night she had tried to explain to Agent 3 that what occurred last night was just a misunderstanding. The good news, Agent 3 was quite understanding and was quick to assure them that he didn't think of them any ill will. The bad news? there was this awkwardness around them whenever she tried making conversation with him.

He would always try to look away from her whenever she tried to talk to him, and she wasn't stupid. She could tell it was because he saw her at such a compromising position last night and just thinking about it actually made her blush a little bit. She was a little bit embarrassed but this actually made her very happy.

It solidified the fact that Agent 3 did see her as a girl and even though she has a body type that wasn't like Marina, his reaction told her that she actually had a chance in gaining his attention.

A hint of a smile appeared on her face, that thought made her more happy than she had expected, she's in a somewhat good mood right now because of it.

"Urgh, can you please stop pacing around so much," Marie groaned while sitting on the couch, "Also don't smile like that, It looks creepy."

And now that good mood was all gone, and she felt a headache coming up, she turned her head to face Marie, and gave her a glare.

"Are you sure you wanna start this again after what happened last night?" she asked, she was getting tired of Marie's antics, even Callie was easier to deal with than this snarky squid.

"Last I recall you were the one who started it." giggled Marie as she got comfy on the couch she was sitting on, "Just sit down and chill, you're the only one who is standing up."

She sighed, she couldn't rebut that, she then opted to take the advice and take a seat on the couch and watch the TV, they didn't need to go and do their regular news today since no new updates came from the top. And the their manager said they can take the day off anyway.

On her right was Agent 8 who was eating a sandwich that she had made earlier, who looked like she was in heaven just by eating a regular peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and to her left was Callie who was busy doing something on her phone, and Marina was somewhere in the kitchen cooking some thing for all of them with the help of Agent 4.

Only one question remained in her mind though,

"Hey Marie, why are you guys still here?" she asked, it was a valid question, the three girls were only initially invited to sleep over because Marina had suggested they stay because it was late in the night. And she couldn't really force Marina to change her mind on the matter so she relented.

"Well, Three is here," Marie answered nonchalantly as if the answer was obvious from the start, "And Marina told us it was okay anyway."

"Urgh.." Pearl groaned, Marina didn't even live here but they act like she's the owner, she let her body relax on the couch and stared at the TV not even paying attention to what was on, it didn't matter anyway, Marina was someone she loved like a sister so she would let it pass and let her have her fun. She didn't get any other friends other than Pearl because of their career choice and Marina's own shyness.

But sometimes, her decisions gave her so much headaches, Pearl let out a sigh and rested her chin on her hand, and after a few minutes of watching some TV she heard hurried footsteps coming down from the stairs to see Agent 3 quickly putting on his jacket while heading to the door, but Marie was the first to voice her curiosity, and Pearl just opted to stay quiet to listen.

"Going somewhere Three?" Marie asked.

"Yeah, I need to go to Sheldon today to get my splattershot maintained." Agent 3 answered while tying his shoes, "It's been awhile since I've got them properly maintained anyway and I've got to find a birthday gift back home."

Marie groaned, she had planned to accompany him but if he's meeting Sheldon she would rather just relax here, but then the second sentence got her confused.

"You go have fun with Sheldon, but a gift? for who?"

"Just a friend that's finally coming here in the city no biggie."

While Marie was questioning him about this friend Pearl on the other hand was on the side thinking about something.

Pearl was curious about the friend too but she could not see why Marie declined this opportunity, but if Marie wasn't to take this chance, she had to be the one to do it, she could also see Callie going to ask to come so she would have to do it fast.

"Can I come?" Pearl hurriedly asks interrupting Callie before she could speak, "I need to get some upgrades done to my dualies anyway."

"Sure, come on we've got no time to waste." Agent 3 said while double checking everything on him to see if he forgot something, unbeknownst to him though, behind him was Pearl giving Callie a smug smile and Callie was squeezing a pillow so hard while giving Pearl a glare.

* * *

**Anonymity**

* * *

While waiting in the train platform to head to inkopolis square Agent 3 took note of Pearl's current attire, she was wearing a pastel pink, baggy hoodie with cream sleeves, and rainbow metallic platform shoes, she opted to leave her crown at the mansion because she said it would attract too much attention.

He shrugged and didn't mind at all, after all he had a bandana mask on with a skull printed on it to hide his face, It helped that other people use it too so it wasn't that unique, He then asks Pearl how she was going to not attract attention when she was the most recognizable idol in inkopolis square with her unique height and look.

Not that he was insulting her or anything, just stating a fact.

"No worries about that Three, I've got my trusty hat!" Pearl said as she pulled out a pastel pink cap which he thought perfectly suited her current attire, but on his mind he though of how that hat would actually help.

"I don't know how that would help." Agent 3 said perplexed, how would a single cap hide her identity?

"Chill out," Pearl reassured him, "Marina and I have done this a hundred of times and never got noticed once!" she gave Agent 3 a smile and a peace sign. Agent 3 was still confused though and couldn't believe it, but he just put that thought in the back of his mind he'll see the results later on, seeing was believing after all.

"I'll hold you on to that," Agent 3 said when he heard the train arriving, "It if it were me, the attire you're wearing would stick out like a sore thumb."

"Oh really?" Pearl asks while looking up to him, she was shorter than him to it was to be expected.

"Yeah, you look very cute in what you're wearing now so I would be very surprised if no one notices you." Agent 3 said nonchalantly as he took out his phone and looked at his phone notifications, it seemed that he didn't know what he just said and what the effect it had on the small inkling.

While he was busy on his phone, Pearl was busy fighting down the blush and took her cap to hide her face.

"I-Is that so?" she stammered, she was still hiding her smile behind the cap, "T-thanks." she said but it was drowned out by the sound of the train screeching to a halt and then they silently entered without a fuss towards inkopolis square.

While on the ride there Pearl sat down next to Agent 3 who was still typing away on his phone, which she was grateful because she didn't know if she could talk about anything right now.

She just wanted to repeat the words Agent 3 said in her mind.

 _Stick to the plan, gotta invite him to somewhere after the visit to Sheldon,_  she thought, trying to calm down the blush that had appeared on her face, it felt good to hear him say that she was cute and she didn't know why.

The train ride continued on quietly until their stop towards inkopolis square.

* * *

**Anonymity**

* * *

"This is hell." Pearl muttered out loud, in front of her was Sheldon who babbled non-stop and boring the heck out of her and Three, she could see why Marie had declined in the first place.

"Yeah." Agent 3 agreed, currently Sheldon was giving them a lecture on how they should not forget to maintain their weapons and how they should care for them, which was unneeded since he had already heard about this from Sheldon every time he would get his weapon fixed up.

"Hey! Are you guys listening? what I'm saying to you guys can help you understand why maintenance is very important and you should not hold it off for any reason!" Sheldon said to them while continuing his rant.

"For the love of cod, can we just know how long it'll take?" groaned Pearl, as he put up her hands over her head to show her annoyance, while Agent 3 just stood there while giving Sheldon an apologetic look but one can see that he was also at his limit.

"How rude," Sheldon muttered, "It should be ready by the afternoon, I'll put the bill on your cards." he added as he took both of the weapons and put it behind his counter for safe keeping.

"Finally!" Pearl groaned out of relief, she then turned to Three and asked him, "Can we go now?" she didn't want to stay here any longer than she needed to lest they be the victim of another one of Sheldon's unstoppable monologue.

Agent 3 gave her a nod and waved goodbye to Sheldon and headed out with no particular destination in mind with Pearl in tow.

"Since we've got more some more free time while we wait for Sheldon to finish, what do you want to do?" asked Agent 3 as he looked at Pearl.

Pearl seemed to ponder and after a few moments her face lit up and snapped her fingers as if to show that she had chosen a destination in mind.

"Let's go to this plush store that just opened recently!" said Pearl, she then excitedly took out her phone to show him a picture of an advertisement of a plush store that had just opened not far from where they were currently.

"Oh? I never pegged you for someone who liked these kinds of things," grinned Agent 3, he never saw this side of her.

"I-I can like things like these too you know!" she stammered, it was embarrassing enough that she got too excited, but just thinking about the bakery made her drool, she didn't have too much free time to go with all the work she has with the news and making music so no way she could pass this opportunity up!

Agent 3 put his hands up defensively.

"It's not like i'm laughing at you for it," Agent 3 said dismissively, "It was just unexpected." he added.

"Well, I'm sorry for ruining your expectations."

"You didn't ruin anything, I just think it was quite out of character of you."

She put a hand on her chin, she supposed that how she acted most of the time would portray that she had no interest in these kinds of things, she then sent pointed a finger up to Agent 3's face.

"Listen up, I might like having plushies but keep in mind I'm still badass!" she said as she puffed up her chest.

Agent 3 stared at her for a moment and smiled, "I'll make sure to remember that then, now, let's go and check it this plush store out." besides, maybe he'll find something appropriate for a gift there.

She then gave him a nod and started to walk with him side by side to the store, It was only just a few blocks from the square anyway so walking wasn't a big deal, it's great that Agent 3 didn't look at her in a bad light.

She glanced at Agent 3, and a light blush appeared on her face.

 _He really is a nice guy,_  she thought.

* * *

**Anonymity**

* * *

"Wow," Agent 3 said while looking at the colorful building in front of him more colorful that what he expected, in fact it kind of looked like it was intended to stand out in the middle of the street, and if he had to compare it to the building just next to it which looked really dull.

Maybe it was intended for children?

He shook his head, he can see several others inside around their age range, some girls some boys. He tried to ask Pearl about what she thought but she was nowhere to be found and he then peered inside, to see Pearl who was already inside looking at the selection of plushies on the shelves with literal stars in her eyes.

He went inside to follow her and as soon as he did he heard Pearl call out to him.

"Hey Three look at this," said Pearl as she showed him an octopus plushy, "doesn't this remind you of Eight?"

He examined the plushy for a few moments and nodded in agreement.

"It sort of does, weird."

"Anyway, I'll go around and look for something else that catches my eye." she said as she proceeded to go down each aisle.

Agent 3 looked at her and smiled, she really was excited about this, he was about to look around too but saw one lime-green squid plushy that was on sale on top of the shelves for all to see with a red tag on it saying that it was on sale.

He shrugged it off and went to look for something appropriate to send back to his family and friends, well one in particular but he didn't need to go to detail into that, but looking at everything here he supposed that he wasn't going to find anything appropriate.

He then spotted something in the corner of the store.

"Huh, that'll work." he took the item and examined it, it was one of those Off the Hook plushy that they had in stock. To be honest he didn't really think they were so popular that they had plush versions of their squid forms but to each their own he guessed.

Half an hour had passed since then and he saw Pearl walking towards him with a handful of bags in he hands, while doing so she had lost her balance and instead of hitting the ground and feeling the cold hard floor of the plush store, she felt two warm hands hug around her.

"Be careful there," Agent 3 said, as he held her still to not let her fall down, "Let me carry those for you." he then took the bags she was having trouble with earlier, and easily held it up, it wasn't that heavy anyway.

Pearl on the other hand had a dazed look while staring up at him. He was about to call her name about it but it was then he noticed that he was still hugging her.

He immediately let go of her and waved his hands in front of him in an apologetic way.

"Sorry, I kind of got ahead of myself there." he apologized, he noticed that she was still staring at him with her lips formed into an 'o' so he waved in front of her face and that action seemed to bring Pearl back in reality.

"Wha-?!" she spluttered and her face resembled a tomato because of how close Agent 3 was to her face at the moment, "G-get away from me!" she said as she pushed Agent 3 lightly for him to back away.

"Oh sorry!" he apologized once again, but this time he didn't know why he apologized. It was just kind of instinct at that time, at the same time the light push made him drop one of the bags and it's contents spilled out.

He saw the lime-green squid plush that he saw earlier, he tried to pick it up to take a closer look at it but it was snatched from his hands by Pearl who was blushing while holding the plush in her chest trying while failing miserably to hide it from his view.

He was about to ask her what's wrong but Pearl suddenly shouted.

"I-I-IT WASN'T LIKE I BOUGHT THIS BECAUSE IT LOOKED LIKE YOU IN YOUR SQUID FORM OKAY?!"

Agent 3 had a light hue on his face from her statement and just stood there confused, and he felt the stares of all the other customers in the store and blushed in embarrassment and to avoid anymore embarrassing moments he immediately led Pearl out of the store.

Pearl had just realized what she had done and silently let herself be led out by Agent 3 whilst having a huge blush on her face, it was great that he had his bandana covering his face or else his flushed face could be seen by everyone and most especially Pearl.

He just couldn't get a break it seems.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, another late chapter sorry but for those who don't know my laptop broke but I managed to recover my files which is a huge relief for me, I thought I was going to have to redo this chapter :)
> 
> So yeah half of this was written on my phone so there might be some mistakes here and there.
> 
> Until next time!


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 9/4/2019 (And still no beta LOL)
> 
> Short chapter but it was the best I could do given the current circumstances,(if you guys don't know my laptop is broken lol) I really didn't want to post this as is but I will probably have a new laptop probably next month, as for now I'm making it work by using the Microsoft Word app on my phone. Hope you guys enjoy this even though it is a bit short.
> 
> Until next time!

After walking away from the immediate area of the plush store and trying to recompose herself after she had 'tried' to hide the fact that she was getting the lime-green squid plush toy just because it looked like Agent 3.

But what Agent 3 didn't know was it was supposed to look like his squid form after his increase in popularity, and she had initially wanted to get it by herself but she figured she could kill two birds with one stone and ask Agent 3 to hang out with her at the same time.

While it did work, she was unsure if the added embarrassment was worth all this, she had basically just admitted to him that she liked him if he had a brain to figure it out. She wasn't ready to confess to it!

 _"_ _Why the hell did I have to do that!"_ Pearl internally berated herself while covering her face with her cap, she was now sitting on a bench with her legs hanging out for obvious reasons, and then she looked up towards Agent 3 who was currently buying them both some ice cream from the vendor just in a few steps in front of her.

But she could guess that he had offered to do so because of the sudden awkwardness that occurred to the both of them because of her outburst earlier was too unbearable and thought that something like ice cream could take their mind off that said awkwardness.

She held the cap close to her face to try to keep it hidden since her face was still flushed, and then she remembered what Marina had told her last night.

******

_"I'm not making any moves towards him."_

_Marina then gave Pearl a smile, It wasn't the normal smile that Marina always has, but Pearl had seen this a couple of times during her friendship with Marina, and she couldn't help but let out a bead of sweat appeared on her forehead._

_"But I'm not sure other people wont too." said Marina as she gave Pearl a smirk._

**_**_ **

Just thinking about it made her crunch her cap in irritation.

"It's not as easy as you think it to be Marina." she growled out lowly so no one would hear her, but unfortunately the last person she wanted for it to be heard was already done with their business and without her noticing was already sitting right beside her.

"What's not so easy?"

"Wha-!?"

Pearl stumbled out of her sitting position in surprise, she had sent him a glare out of irritation.

"Stop doing that!" she exclaimed, she really couldn't understand how he could pop up suddenly without her noticing, she was beginning to think that he was doing it on purpose. Come to think of it, it might be just his training with the captain, Agent 4 and Callie did sneak into her mansion, maybe she should ask the old squid to train her too? now that was an idea.

"D-doing what?" inquired Agent 3, a bit startled by her outburst as he tilted his head a bit to the side resembling a puppy that had it's attention to a stick held by it's owner, Because of this Pearl give out an answer, and just stayed quiet, how could she even begin to answer with that face he's making? she thought about taking a picture but slightly shook her head on how that's not going to happen anytime soon.

"Well," Agent 3 said as he handed her the extra ice cream he was holding, "whatever it is, remember that I'm always here to talk about it okay?" he then gave her a bright smile.

Pearl's immediate reaction was to cover her face again with her cap, being careful of not dropping the ice cream she was currently holding. She couldn't let him see her face right now, she would not let him see her all flustered like this, never!

"I-I'll keep that in mind." she muttered in a low voice but Agent 3 still heard it and gave her a nod, Agent 3 then turned to look around the surroundings in the park they were in.

He closed his eyes and breathed in a lungful of fresh air. Well, as fresh as it can get inside the city anyway.

"We don't get that much opportunities like this huh?" Agent 3 spoke up, trying to start another conversation with Pearl again.

"What do you mean?" asked Pearl, she wasn't quite sure on what Agent 3 was saying, ever since they destroyed that human statue she and Marina had been accompanying Eight every time she went to visit the splatoon in the cabin.

"What I mean is," he then put a hand on Pearl's head, "that we don't really get this alone time with the two of us." he finished as he gave Pearl another smile that caused Pearl's blush to resurface once again.

"W-What are you saying you i-idiot?!" she stuttered out as she used her free hand to swat his hand away from her head and put her cap back on, was he coming on to her? is this what being hit on feels like? if it is, she liked it very much and would very much appreciate it if he did it to her more often.

She had also tried to sound angry but she failed horribly. She then noticed his ice cream had started to melt and a little had already dropped onto his fingers. She took this opportunity to change a topic so that she could get a break and calm herself.

As she informed him of the current state of his ice cream, Agent 3 had panicked at had focused all his attention to the said snack. She stared at him while he was trying to not let any of it drop onto his clothing and placed a hand over her chest so that she could calm the erratic beating of her heart.

She was not going to admit it but, she really wished she had more time with Agent 3. But it wasn't like she could invite him to hang out with her, and if she did she would always have Agent 8 or Marina to come with them. So this trip to the plush store she had planned was the only chance for her to be alone with Agent 3, but she had to be all stupid and ruin it!

 _"Stupid!",_ Pearl thought as she mentally berated herself, she didn't even notice her own ice cream had also started melting too and was now starting to drip, and quick thinking she immediately tried to lick it away.

She regretted that decision.

Her cheek was now smeared with a bit of ice cream, both her hands were now all sticky with the dairy product, maybe eating ice cream in the sun like this was a bad idea after all.

She heard Agent 3 chuckle beside her, she immediately turned to see him looking at her in amusement, her cheeks then flushed red with embarrassment once again for maybe the second time this day.

"Don't laugh!" she exclaimed, she couldn't believe herself she had not only embarrassed herself not once but twice in a row, she cursed her luck.

"I'm not!" Agent 3 said, but he still couldn't stop a chuckle escaping from his mouth but it wasn't because he was making fun of her or anything like that. "It was just pretty cute of you to be like that!" he added as he then took out a handkerchief and used it to wipe the ice cream away from her hands and cheeks. It was going to be sticky she was going to need to find a drinking fountain or a restroom somewhere to wash it off, but for now this will suffice.

Throughout this, because of his words Pearl was staring at him with a flushed face.

"Thank..you.." she swooned, maybe it was because he was touching her cheek and cleaning it as like a boyfriend would when he saw something on his partners face, or the fact that she had heard him call her cute.

Hearing that made her feel good inside, and really giddy and happy, she really couldn't explain it but she can say one thing.

She really did  _love_  this idiot.

* * *

"Why are they acting all lovey dovey over there?"

Callie said while biting into the handkerchief and pulling, almost tearing it with the force she was exerting. It was the only way to keep her temper in check and as much as she would like to go over there and remove the  _midget_  away from her man, she couldn't, she promised her Grandpa that she wouldn't cause a ruckus in public.

But that didn't mean anything when they go somewhere with less people around.

"Calm down you idiot, people are looking at you." Marie scolded her cousin, she was supposed to be just watching TV back in the mansion but she couldn't leave her idiot cousin alone, who knows what would happen?

She would have normally handed this job to Agent 4, but she was busy helping Marina. They were currently in their casual attire with sunglasses to help cover their unique eyes, and she wore her mask just for good measure. It would be bad if they we're recognized right now after all.

"But, can't you see that she's taking advantage of the situation!?" said Callie as she pointed over to Pearl who was still currently covering her face with her cap and Agent 3 trying to talk her to put it down.

"No, we promised remember?" Marie simply said, recalling her promise with her gramps.

Marie let out a frustrated sigh as she looked at the two, she knew this would've happened sooner or later, but she it wasn't like she can do anything, as the most sensible of the cousin duo she had to abide by her promise to gramps.

She's not saying that she wasn't jealous at all, but how Pearl is right now, she really couldn't take her seriously as a rival. In her eyes Pearl was too hesitant to act on her feelings while she herself had already shared her first kiss with him.

Just thinking about it made her smile and her cheeks flush, she will definitely be looking towards making another move like that soon.

"B-but!" Callie tried to say but was cut off by Marie.

"No buts, we can just keep watching for now." After that, Callie slumped back into her chair and took a sip from her drink. She really wanted to break the two away, looking at Pearl looking at Agent 3 like that just didn't sit well with her and only made her angrier and angrier.

Sooner or later she will have her chance, it was just a matter of time.

No one takes her man away from her.

* * *

 


End file.
